In October 2005, Computerworld invited a selected list of subscribers to participate in a survey on spyware in the enterprise.
This study was conducted among subscribers to Computerworld. A total of 72,000 names with e-mail addresses were randomly selected from the subscriber file using the following selection criteria:
Those who had an IT management job title (CIO, chief technology officer, chief security officer, executive vice president, senior vice president, director, manager or another IT management title).
Those who indicated involvement in planning or purchasing responsibilities for security products or technologies.
The study was administered via the Internet. Each sampled subscriber was sent an e-mail message inviting him to participate from Oct. 5 to 11. A total of 577 qualified completes were received, resulting in a 1% response rate.
56% of respondents reported having IT management titles. 17% of the respondents were IT managers; 16% were directors of IT/IS.
53% work in companies with 1,000 or more employees; 13% said their organizations had 20,000 or more employees. The most commonly represented industries within the respondent base were education (14%) and noncomputer manufacturing (12%).
Most enterprises have experienced problems relating to spyware, and many are already taking steps to address those issues. These are the detailed survey results:
Has your organization had problems with spyware that required significant attention by your IT organization in the past 12 months?
If your organization had problems with spyware, what specifically was the problem? Choose all that apply.
Desktop support/performance issues - 83%
Trojan or other backdoor access allowed break-in - 22%
We have not had problems with spyware that required significant attention by our IT organization - 17%
Destruction of data or programs - 14%
Loss of personal information - 7%
Loss of organization's data or intellectual property - 6%
Other - 5%
Identity theft - 3%
To what extent do you see spyware as a potential threat to your organization's operations?
A big threat -17%
A significant threat - 54%
Somewhat of a threat - 25%
Not a threat - 3%
Unsure/no opinion - 2%
Do you think the spyware threat is increasing, decreasing or staying the same?
Increasing - 84%
Decreasing - 2%
About the same - 13%
Unsure/no opinion - 1%
Do you think the dangers of spyware issue have been overhyped?
Yes, definitely - 2%
Yes, somewhat - 15%
Not over hyped - 53%
Not publicized enough - 29%
Unsure/no opinion - 1%
How concerned are you about the possibility that spyware (such as adware, keyloggers, remote control programs, dialers, Trojans or other programs) might be used for identity theft?
Very concerned - 51%
Concerned - 34%
Somewhat concerned - 14%
Not at all concerned - 1%
How concerned are you about the possibility that spyware (such as adware, keyloggers, dialers, remote control programs, Trojans or other programs) might be used for industrial espionage?
Very concerned - 30%
Concerned - 39%
Somewhat concerned - 27%
Not at all concerned - 5%
Do your users currently use stand-alone, desktop antispyware products?
All use - 26%
Some use - 41%
A few use - 19%
No one uses - 14%
Don't know - 1%
Does your organization currently use enterprise-class antispyware products that allow centralized management and control?
If your organization currently uses enterprise-class antispyware products, how effective are these tools at detecting spyware?
Very effective - 32%
Somewhat effective - 60%
Not very effective - 3%
Ineffective - 1%
Don't know - 5%
How effective are these tools at removing spyware?
Very effective - 29%
Somewhat effective - 55%
Not very effective - 9%
Ineffective - 2%
Don't know - 5%
How effective are these tools at preventing spyware?
Very effective - 19%
Somewhat effective - 59%
Not very effective - 11%
Ineffective - 5%
Don't know - 6%
If your organization currently does not use enterprise-class antispyware products, what are your plans for adding antispyware tools to your security infrastructure in the next 12 months?
Product in pilot - 5%
Evaluating products - 25%
Researching products - 29%
Considering - 19%
Not considering - 11%
Don't know - 11%
If you try to control spyware, what tools do you use that play an active role in preventing infection, detecting or removing spyware, or blocking communication activity relating to spyware? Choose all that apply.
