According to the Netcraft Web Server Survey, as of December 2010, 255,287,546 websites were found to be apart of the quintessential World Wide Web i.e., the internet. Though this global system of interconnected computer networks is rather large there is no central network server to control and regulate all that goes on among those web surfing and the unified millions of hypermedia one might find on the addicting screen of a computer. 

For this reason such problems exist as an increasing amount of distributed pornography, sexual predators looking to exploit vulnerable children or teens, cyberbullying, computer viruses, and most recently being recognized as a valid threat, the nerve-shattering “scareware”.

What is so surprising about this recent uprise in scam software is its unexpectedness given the millions of dollars on average spent to protect the PC for various viruses. Scareware is a type of spyware that downloads itself onto a computer’s harddrive should one click on a website it has been attached to. In other words, as the webpage is loading, so is the scam. Scareware is characterized by a continual recurrence of popups, systematically disguised as a warning from your own protection program, that alert you of a virus in varying parts of your system. These findings, however, are false; the only virus running through the PC is responsible for the ever-agitating warnings.

This scam will insist the only way to be rid of the problem is by pay for and download upgraded antivius software. However, these virus warnings are entirely fake and the downloadable software is non-functional, leaving the confused and frustrated consumers cheated and the cybercriminals with profits upwards of $300 million. Also, similar to this is Ransomware, a computer worm that operates much like scareware, breaching the PCs protective blockers and “holding” the hardrive’s information until its demands have been met. Another type of this scam is the “prank” scareware, known as NightMare, software generally credited to be the first of it kind since its original creation in 1997. It was used as an advertisement for the Sir-Tech company’s Virus computer game, in which a sudden simulation of a deletion of the Windows folder appears on the desktop before a message displaying a slow-appearing "Thank God this is only a game." This in the end indicates that no damage what-so-ever had been done to the computer. Since then, the advertisement has developed into a virus that will change the entire screen of the computer to an image of a skull while rendering a terrifying shriek on the audio channels or displaying a pop-up box enquiring if the fake protection it is offering should erase everything on your hardrive, while displaying two boxes that are both labeled “yes”. These however are unresponsive.

These illegitimate acts of spyware, affecting numerous PCs, have unfortunately left considerable damage. According to a study by the Anti-Phishing Working Group, an international association that unites businesses affected by identity-thieving attacks, in 2009, the number of scareware software circulating the internet has increased by 583 percent and the Microsoft Cooperation disclosed that its free Malicious Software Removal Tool removed scareware from 7.8 million PCs from January through June and 5.3 million PCs from July through December.  Just recently last year, in 2010, Google detected over 11,000 domains hosting fake anti-virus software, accounting for 50 percent of malware, software designed to access a computer system without the owner's informed consent, delivered through internet advertising.

Because such there are such fast numbers of scareware programs and its various interpretations, precautions are being taken by large software and electronics companies and businesses. Microsoft has devoted a large portion of its home site to step-by-step videos explaining how to defend a computer from outside attacks and rogue software, and a list of helpful hints of how to protect one’s computer.  Included and most stressed of these suggestions are using current anti-spyware and anti-malware software from a known vendor, regularly updating Windows and other programs,  avoiding clicking on ads for unknown software and being cautious when clicking on links in email or social networking sites.  

Fortunately, many of these scams though are being brought to light, resulting in various lawsuits and indictments such as the 2009 lawsuit in which Microsoft filed against DirectAd Solutions, ote2008.info, qiweroqw.com, Soft Solutions, and Itmeter. They accused them of using malicious advertisements to fool victims into installing software on their computers. Previously, in 2005, Microsoft and Washington State profitably sued Secure Computer, the makers of Spyware Cleaner, for $1 million over charges of using scareware pop-ups. Washington's attorney-general later brought lawsuits against Securelink Networks, High Falls Media and the makers of Quick Shield. Three years later, the attorney-general and Microsoft filed for suit against Branch Software and Alpha Red, producers of the Registry Cleaner XP scareware, with accusations that they knowingly sent continuous pop-ups resembling system warnings to consumers' personal computers stating there were critical problems within their hardrives and then directing them to a website to download Registry Cleaner XP at a cost of $39.95.

These two organizations have been successful in their fight against the rapid scams as in 2005, Washington became among the first states to adopt a law explicitly prohibiting spyware activities and levying serious penalties on violators. This decree also uses a broader definition of “spyware” and punishes those who mislead users into believing software is necessary for security. The law was updated in 2008 to create additional responsibility for third-parties that permit the transmission of spyware and misrepresent the need for computer repairs, giving confidence to the public that their PCs and composure of mind may be kept protected form those who oppress them.