Finding spyware at the Opera House shows just how dangerous the web can be. It appears a hacker managed to log into the Opera House's web site management system and was able to edit the page. Because the hacker didn't do much but add a couple of lines that linked to a spyware page they were able to get away undetected.

This week, the news came out that a number of mainstream Italian sites were similarly hacked. It's difficult to say how many people were infected with the spyware, but it once again illustrates how important it is to protect your computer. Even if you don't visit unsavoury or suspicious site, you need to take care.

Our protection kit goes through the basics. We would also suggest running as a limited user. We've discussed this many times in the past and will be updating the protection kit instructions in the next few days.

One of the aims of spyware writers is to use your computer as a "bot", that is it can be instructed to do things like send spam, store illegal materials or even attack other computers. Link together a number of these "bots" and you create a "botnet". Botnets are a major problem for computer networks as they can be used to cripple websites and corporate networks, in one case an entire country has been attacked.