Empirical Study of Drive-By-Download Spyware

The ability of spyware to circumvent common security practices, surreptitiously exporting confidential information to remote parties and illicitly consuming system resources, is a rising security concern in government, corporate, and home computing environments. While it is the common perception that spyware infection is the result of high risk Internet surfing behavior, the research shows mainstream web sites listed in popular search engines contribute to spyware infection irrespective of patch levels and despite "Safe" Internet surfing practices.