Spam Rises to 96.5% With Possibilities of More

An IT control and security company Sophos has released its new report outlining the recent trends of spam as well as the twelve worst spam-relaying countries for Q2 2008. The report highlights that only one out of 28 e-mails is actually genuine. It also observes that spammers have started using sites of social networking such as Facebook to distribute their messages.

Furthermore, according to the report, during April-June 2008, the volume of spam rose to 96.5% of all official e-mails, while it was 92.3% during the first quarter (January-March 2008). In addition, to get past spam filters, spammers are taking advantage of social networks like Facebook to post spam messages onto other members' profiles that not only the profile owner does not get to read but also any other person visiting his/her page.

The Sophos study also suggested that the US continue to be the worst spam-relaying country at 14.9% followed by Russia at 7.5% and Turkey at 6.8%. China is at the fourth position (5.6%) and situated on the worst spam-relaying continent, Asia (35.4%). Europe is the second similar continent (29.5%) and North America the third (18.2%).

Meanwhile, according to Graham Cluley, Senior Technology Consultant, Sophos, it is necessary to remember that some spam mails are not only an annoyance but also malicious in purpose as they persuade users to click on an attached Trojan or lead them to a harmful Website, as reported by PORTAL IT.

Besides, "Spear phishing", which delivers messages after personalizing them to a particular organization or domain, has become a common phenomenon in the recent months. Such messages pose to arrive from a known or trusted source, typically from an employee in the IT department of any organization. And like any phishing e-mail these messages ask the recipient for his private information such as username and password.

Meanwhile, entities that have become victims of spear phishing attacks in the past few months include The University of Minnesota and The University of Waterloo. Several financial organizations too have been hit by this type of attack, the report notes.

Related article: Spam Scam Bags a Scottish Connection

» SPAMfighter News - 7/28/2008