Perhaps inevitably, malicious adware and spyware tend to follow trends on the internet like sheep.

By now most of us have heard of YouTube, the internet video sharing community phenomenon that has risen in stature to be one of the most popular websites on the World Wide Web (receiving 72 million unique visitors per months) over an impressively short period of time.

With numerous other websites also boasting high levels of traffic and offering similar services to that of YouTube, it would seem the potential target for adware and spyware to be wrapped up within these videos could be extremely extensive. If an inclined individual could find a way to exploit this high level of usage, they could potentially play havoc with a large homogenous group of internet users.

Unsurprisingly, that’s exactly what certain individuals have done.

The malicious software gets on to a user’s system through the downloading of misleading codecs that the provider claims is necessary to view a certain video format. There are those less severe instances where there is actually a genuine codec that is supplied, albeit among some sort of spyware or adware that supplies an avalanche of pop-up windows, and those more malicious pseudo-codecs that exist simply to infect the user’s computer and spam the user extensively, or cause damage in some way.

The advice given to those presented with the option of downloading a codec to view a video, is only to do so if a reputable website is offering it for download. As always, users should continue to be vigilant, especially now on video sharing websites where in unfamiliar surroundings individuals may be duped into downloading a malicious piece of software.