The U.K. has the highest spyware infection rate of any European country, security vendor Webroot has said in a new report.

The company's quarterly State of Spyware report, based on an international survey of enterprise and consumer PCs, found that spyware infections are again on the rise after a lull last year.

In 2004, many security experts said the spyware problem had reached its peak, and Webroot said it detected a slowdown in infections for the second half of 2005. That moment has apparenlty passed.

"The data we have culled during the past six months unequivocally show that spyware is anything but extinct," said Webroot chief executive C. David Moll, in a statement.

"Spyware is a financially motivated threat and as long as there is a dollar to be had, cyber criminals will do everything possible to steal it."

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