CheezeDMG Blog

The current financial uncertainties has in many cases overshadowed a host of the world’s problems and situations, in particular the millions of viruses, trojans, spyware and malware circulating the web like a modern day black plague.

That might appear to be an overly exaggerated comment to some, but Malware is continually becoming increasingly sophisticated, dangerous and spreading faster day by day.  According to Google, “one Web page in 10 is capable of activating malicious code, and 16% may contain code that could infect a user’s PC” (Source). The researchers found that around 450,000 of those sites surveyed were capable of drive-by-downloads, transferring files to users computers without them knowing.

The most concerning aspect of that report was that it was done back in 2007, and though consumers are becoming more aware of these viruses and the tell tell signs, the internet and subsequently these viruses are developing even faster than they were two years ago.

PandaLabs, monitors of such internet viruses, reported the below instances of malware reports over a 5 year period.

Malware cases recieved by PandaLabs

Their forecasts for 2008 end, was to have identified around 7 to 8 million strains of malware, it ended up being nearer the 15 million mark. Even more worrying, this malware is not being programmed for the fun of creating havoc anymore, in the advent of rising online fraud, they are being produced solely for monitory gain, at the expense of consumer confidence.

It’s not just experiences of the individual consumers that are being damaged, the infrastructure that has allowed the growth of online retailing to thrive is under threat too. The UK online fraud report (Source) for last year identified many worrying trends including:

You can find the UK 2009 Online Fraud Report in full here.

Take the Heartland Payment System crisis (Source), a company in the US that provides online credit card processing admitted recently that malware may have stolen the details of up to 100 million credit and debit cards.

The most worrying aspect of all this is that firewalls and consumer virus scanners are not quick enough to deal with the threat.

How does this affect online advertising you ask? Consumer confidence, in retailing in particular, is being battered in so many directions it’s just getting silly and the recession is becoming deeper and blacker because of it.

Rising online fraud and malware will only damage user’s experiences further, though there are things you can do, to restore some confidence back into the online arm of your business…invest in the best.

I know, it may sound like a classic line from an advertising agency in a recession, but for online in particular, investing in stronger e-commerce infrastructure and efficient marketing strategies now will bowed well, in and at the boom end of a recession. Especially when your competitors maybe making the logical “in a recession” decision by cutting back on marketing budgets that will result in gaps in their customers loyalty that could be exploited.

There has never been a better time than now to ensure that your customers enjoy a safe, secure and reassuring experience while being exposed to your advertising and infrastructure online. Some tips and advice from CheezeDMG in operating online in these unstable conditions include:

If you’d like anymore information regarding any of the services we offer here at CheezeDMG feel free to get in touch with Tom Griffiths on 01473 236 892.