Spam hooks millions
A WAR is raging in cyberland, and you are caught in the crossfire. Not content with blowing each other’s brains out in internet-based multiplayer games, malicious geeks are battling each other to see who can infect your computer to produce the biggest harvest of email addresses. According to IT security firm Kapersky Labs, the winners are guaranteed big money from spammers desperate to tempt you into anything from buying dodgy drugs to joining child-porn sites — often also infecting your computer with spyware to steal confidential data such as banking details and passwords. They’re willing to pay big because spam works.