The Malware War of 2004.

As another year is coming to a close, the following article provides a pretty accurate summation of our battles against the deviants in the Malware War of 2004.

Phishing, spyware and other pests plagued 2004
By Anick Jesdanun, The Associated Press Dec 30 2004 2:42PM

Below are a few excerpts and I added the words in bold & underlined:

Year in review:
Computer worms raced around the world, leaving behind tools that spread spam. Scammers sent e-mail to trick bank account holders into revealing passwords…
Some Causes:
These were among the top Internet threats of 2004 as the perpetrators grew smarter and more sophisticated, driven more than ever by economic gains.

"I just don't think users are educated enough when they are on machines and what they are doing with it."

By fall, phishers began automating their scams, embedding scripts within e-mail to launch a legitimate site like Citibank's along with a fake pop-up window that captures account information. Many users would mistakenly believe the pop-up came from the bank, said Jim Murphy, director of product marketing at SurfControl plc
Future:
The coming year could also mean more threats via cell phones, instant messaging software and Internet-based phone systems, as well as desktop search utilities being developed by Microsoft, Google Inc. and others.

Users will need to bear the responsibility for security as much as software developers and service providers,
The Article is located Here: