According to a new article by Sarah Gordon, a principal engineer at Symantec's Security Response headquarters, spyware and adware are causing more headaches among systems managers than badly configured air conditioning units.

Home users will be quick to sympathise, but I would wager that most people who use the internet at work are as aware of any spyware on their machines as the creators of the spyware would hope they are, ie, not at all.

Gordon points out that less than a year ago it was in the home that spyware was causing most problems. Referring to figures from the National Cyber Security Alliance, she highlights that at that time some 80 percent of consumers had some adware or spyware on their home machines. "What started as a minor annoyance has ballooned into a full-blown headache," she now says.

The growth of spyware may be good news for pharmaceutical companies selling aspirins, but it is causing problems for other businesses. Many companies are likely to suffer security breaches and lost productivity due to spyware, and, most alarmingly for IT managers, they are likely to suffer more calls to the helpdesk.

I've heard plenty of horror stories about spyware infection, including one about a receptionist's PC that proudly displayed pornographic images whenever it was switched on, and another involving a salesman's laptop that did the same - whether he wanted it to or not. Countless organisations, including schools and colleges, are plagued by the menace, because someone, somewhere clicked on, or downloaded, something that they shouldn't have.

According to Gordon, the only way to deal with this threat is to have a solid system in place and a "dedicated research and response mechanism to track new spyware risks and provide timely updates as the threat landscape evolves". Without the right system in place this sounds a lot like a full-time job. Even with a good system, it still sounds onerous.

But it's a small outlay for a large reward. According to analyst firm Forrester, anti-spyware will be the biggest-selling security product this year - that is unless a Darth Vader firewall is released. Meanwhile, Forrester's research has found that up to 40 percent of IT managers have no clue about the state of their systems with regards to spyware. The only way to find out is to audit and assess these risks.

IT managers can no longer afford to leave the discovery of spyware to chance. Such a lax attitude can only end in tears, or a very embarrassing presentation.