Adware accounted for 68% of spyware in March

Adware has, once again, been the most damaging type of spyware in March. In fact, 68 percent of all spyware detected by the online antivirus solution Panda ActiveScan was adware.  This type of malware is designed to show unwanted pop-up ads.
 
The second most active type of spyware in March were PUPs (Potentially Unwanted Programs), which accounted for 24 percent of spyware infections detected by ActiveScan. Finally, spyware aimed at collecting data about users’ Internet habits, represented eight percent of the total.
 
No major changes occurred in the March ranking of the most active spyware, which is once again headed by Lop. This is an adware that displays ads and installs a search bar on the Internet Explorer browser.
 
The old-timer Gator, another adware, is in second in the list. Third place is taken by the MyWebSearch PUP, which installs a search bar on the browser.

SaveNow, an adware that offers information about the weather in exchange for the user viewing certain ads, is in fourth place. Fifth and sixth were the nCase adware and the WinAntivirus2006 PUP respectively. 
 
It’s in the seventh position where the changes begin compared to last month’s ranking. The VideoActiveXObject adware moves up one spot and relegates wupd to eighth place.
 
Ninth place is occupied by the only new addition to the list:  Virtumonde, a key-logging spyware that also shows ads.