The security threats faced by Internet users today have changed significantly over the past decade. Ten years ago, the primary threats facing computer users were viruses and email-propagated worms. These threats were often created by thrill-seeking hackers out to prove their programming prowess or to make some kind of statement.

Starting in the late ‘90s, the rise in adware and spyware marked the appearance of a new kind of threat, one in which the creators were motivated by profit more than notoriety and bragging rights.

AVG security researchers, led by Karel Obluk, Roger Thompson and Petr Odehnal, were among the first in the industry to note the subsequent increase in more aggressive and dangerous threats that manifested themselves as drive-by downloads – delivery of malware that required no user interaction beyond visiting a particular web page. These threats were clearly designed to steal personal information, track user movements and actions, acquire bank account or credit card data and other digital assets, all in an effort to make money.

“The rapid rise of Web exploits threatens to undermine the very fabric of Internet trust,” said Roger Thompson, chief research officer at AVG and the founder and former CTO of Exploit Prevention Labs. “Five years ago, if you visited web sites for pornography or illegal file sharing, you expected to run across adware and spyware, but you seldom had reason to fear an otherwise-legitimate web site. Today, the situation has changed. Google, Facebook and MySpace – some the Internet’s most popular and trusted destinations – are increasingly the unwitting distributors of drive-by downloads.”