A SCOURGE of pornographic web sites and pop-up advertisements attacking personal computers (PCs) around the world is being blamed on technophiles resident in Bermuda.

According to media reports circulating in the United States, an offensive software capable of hijacking browsers, redirecting search attempts, serving nasty pop-up advertisements and tracking visited web sites, is crippling millions of computer users around the world ? and Bermuda is to blame.

Local Information Technology (IT) specialists have denied any involvement, saying that vigilant monitoring on the island prevents such activity, and that Bermuda is as much a victim of the software as everywhere else.

Not according to Todd Sawicki. Director of marketing at 180solutions, one of the leading companies in delivering targeted Internet advertising, he recently told the that the problems were being caused by "guys in Bermuda, off-shore. They're the online equivalent of spammers. We want them to die a slow and painful death."

Repeated attempts were made to contact Mr. Sawicki. His secretary indicated he was in his office when the final call was placed at 5.36 p.m. yesterday, but he disappeared before she could let him know I was on the telephone.

Local Internet security specialists Quo Vadis and Government's Information Technology Office (ITO) denied there was any legitimacy to Mr. Sawicki's Bermuda comment.

Michael Oatley of ITO described it as little-more than a "throw-away comment with no basis". He added that the obviously hadn't believed what Mr. Sawicki said was true because it had not made it "an issue", and neither did Bermuda.

"I think he has his facts wrong and he is generalising," said Stephen Davidson, vice-president of marketing and business development at Quo Vadis. "Bermuda has received a fair amount of bad press in the States recently and he's grabbed onto the name as the first that comes to mind.

"Certainly we see no sign at all of Spyware companies operating from Bermuda and it would be highly unlikely that they would want to operate from here because we have a pretty good regulatory environment in place.

"The people in technology here are more oriented towards working with the insurance companies or the local institutions who are using technology to reach out to the world. We're not particularly interested in doing fly-by-night stuff. That's ridiculous."

Mr. Davidson explained that 'spyware' is the term most commonly used to describe the annoying software, but 'malware' is a more accurate one. Programmes classified as spyware merely send information about a computer and its user to another party. Malware runs the whole gamut of adware, spyware, hijackers, toolbars and diallers. Independently, all can be annoying, but even more so when they infect a computer as a package.

As stated in Ars Technia, an online magazine dedicated to PC enthusiasts: "Along with viruses, one of the biggest threats to computer users on the Internet today is malware. It can hijack your browser, redirect your search attempts, serve up nasty pop-up ads, track what web sites you visit, and generally screw things up.

"Malware programs are usually poorly programmed and can cause your computer to become unbearably slow and unstable in addition to all the other havoc they wreak. Many of them will reinstall themselves even after you think you have removed them, or hide themselves deep within Windows making them very difficult to clean."

"You can get infected by malware in several ways. Malware often comes bundled with other programs (Kazaa, iMesh and other file sharing programmes seem to be the biggest bundlers). These malware programs are usually pop-up ads, sending revenue from the ads to the program's authors. Others are installed from web sites, pretending to be software needed to view the web site.

"Still others, most notably some of the CoolWebSearch variants, install themselves through holes in Internet Explorer like a virus would, requiring you to do nothing but visit the wrong web page to get infected. The vast majority however, must be installed by the user. Unfortunately, getting infected with malware is usually much easier than getting rid of it, and once you get malware on your computer it tends to multiply."

According to Mr. Davidson, malware is a problem for "anybody who's connected to the Internet and absolutely a problem for computer users here".

He said: "We advise people that there are plenty of free spyware programs. Some anti-virus packages have (such programs) built in, but you can also download free ones like Lavasoft, to periodically clean your computer. You have to cleanse periodically because it keeps coming back."

While there is no guaranteed protection against malware, Mr. Davidson said vigilance helped.

"People need to make sure their computer is constantly kept up to date with the latest patches from Microsoft or Apple," he said.

"They need to have anti-virus software on it and to keep it up to date. And, if they are on DSL, and their computer is always connected to the Internet, they absolutely need to have a personal firewall turned on otherwise their computer will be taken over pretty quickly."