Spam-happy shoppers love stolen software
Online shoppers are still willing to buy products advertised in spam, indicating that the problem is unlikely to desist anytime soon, a new survey shows.
Among the most popular items being sold via unsolicited e-mail is illegal software--in many cases adding to the number of laws being broken by the sellers.
According to figures from Forrester Research, a staggering 22 percent of U.K. online consumers have bought software through spam.
The problems with this kind of sale in particular are manifold. Users are encouraging the spammers to keep sending bulk mail by buying from them. They are also violating software copyrights. Furthermore, by buying software that is most likely pirated and not produced with much quality assurance they are likely exposing themselves to viruses and spyware bundled with their illegal goods.
Ironically, it is the very Trojans which can come bundled with pirate software that help create the networks of compromised machines abused by spammers.
"Who knows what you're getting when they buy a piece of software from these e-mails," said Alyn Hockey, product director at Clearswift. "There could be anything on there."
Hockey stressed that even if users aren't worried about the copyright implications of pirated software they should certainly take notice of the security threat of installing it.
