Computer users were urged yesterday to guard against spyware, which accounted for almost a third of complaints received by the computer security watchdog this year.
Spyware is software that performs, generally without a user's consent, tasks such as collecting personal or credit card information, changing the computer's configuration or launching advertisements even when the user is off line.
The Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Co-ordination Centre (HKCert) said yesterday that 89 out of 310 incident reports in January and February involved spyware. But most only caused computers or networks to stall and none caused financial losses.
Spyware programmes are often attached to free software that users download for purposes such as music-sharing, or they install themselves when a user browses certain websites.
'The problem is that spyware is legal, as it is part of the package that the users agreed to download and install,' said HKCert head Roy Ko Wai-tak.
There had been cases overseas where spyware companies sued anti-spyware software providers for removing their programmes.