Two-thirds of people in favour of cyber-spying

More than six in 10 of us believe it is right for countries to use cyber-espionage against others at certain times, according to Sophos research.

A poll of 1,077 people around the world carried out by security company Sophos found nearly a quarter said it didn’t matter whether spying was done during peace time.

Four in 10 thought launching cyber-attacks, including hacking into computers or using malicious software against another country, was “acceptable” but only during wartime.

Just over three in 10 thought the practice was unacceptable under any circumstance.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos said: "It's perhaps surprising that so many people seem to think that using the internet as a tool for spying, or even as a weapon, is acceptable practice.

"After all, by giving the green light to these kinds of activities you'd also have to expect to be on the receiving end too. Maybe yours will be the next company probed by an overseas power?"

The poll was included in Sophos' mid-year 2010 Security Threat Report. Another trend it noted was the evolution over the past decade of malicious software into a major industry in its own right.

Sophos said the world of cyber criminals has a complicated economic infrastructure. This is driven by a population of well-organised, well-funded criminal gangs. The company said these gangs had “highly motivated and highly trained programmers churning out massive volumes of malicious code and exploits”.

It said the criminals were able to exploit these talented programmers because of the economic situation.

“Honest money is harder to come by, more people are being lured into the world of crime, and programmers who cannot find jobs in legitimate software h ouses are more easily recruited by criminal gangs,” it said in the report.

Sophos also said the US remains the “super power” when it comes to countries hosting malicious software, these include sites specifically set up to infect visitors' computers and legitimate sites that have been compromised.

The UK now ranks sixth in the security firm’s top 10 list of malware-hosting countries.