Porn doesn't pay

Young men more at risk from spyware from visiting porn sites

19 October 2006 11:41 GMT / By Amber Maitland

Unsurprisingly, a new survey has proven that young men are more prone to having their PCs infected with spyware due to their predilection for porn.

Anti-spyware developer Webroot Software surveyed 600 people and found out that the likelihood of infection is increased by the “risky” online behaviour of young men, who open instant messages, download suspect files, and visit “adult entertainment sites” (65% of those men surveyed). Granted, the research may be somewhat biased as it pays for Webroot to make sure people need spyware software, but the results do make for interesting read.

Ninety-one per cent of the young women surveyed said they'd never visited a porn site, and 60% said they'd never clicked on a pop-up ad.

Webroot's research has also found that the average PC has about 30.5 pieces of spyware on it, with nearly 90% of consumer PCs having some form of spyware lodged on it.

“The chances of becoming infected with spyware rapidly increase when performing certain online behaviour, such as visiting adult entertainment sites or social networking sites like MySpace.com”, said David Moll, CEO of Webroot. “These sites have become a breeding ground for spyware.”

Symptoms of spyware infection vary, with 69% reporting slow PC performance, and 50% complaining about an increase in pop-ups.