Tangled In A Safety Net

A recent survey of 1,200 end users by security vendor Trend Micro shows a bad news/even worse news scenario. The slightly less bad news, if you can call it that, is that the overwhelming majority of end users are aware of spyware. The worse news is that much of this awareness comes from direct experience with the malacious code, with approxmiately 40% of the respondents reporting a spyware encounter.And the bad news doesn't stop there. Of those who said they had run up against spyware at work, less than half of the U.S. users thought the malware had victimized them in anyway, signifying a serious disconnect between reality and perception.

Naturally, most users think their IT departments could do more to educate them on the threat -- and do a better job protecting them from spyware in general. That said, many admit they are far more likely to not throw caution to the wind when they are online if they have an IT department to act as a safety net for them. No wonder end users are such a source of frustration for IT.