Spammers Reverting to Simple Words, URLs - IBM

IBM said in a report that spam authors are crafting simple e-mails to escape from sophisticated filtering programs.

According to the IBM report, spammers are now sending simple URL spam in place of complex spam e-mails, such as file attachment spam, image-based spam, etc, noticed in the year of 2007.

Moreover, the report said that in the H1 of 2008, around 90% of the same were simple in words and URL; as a result, they could not be detected by spam filters.

Considering the change in spam writing, IBM said that spammers are coming back to basics from the more sophisticated anti-spam technologies.

Furthermore, e-mail service providers are safeguarding their subscribers from viruses, malware and redundant pornographic images sent by spammers by blocking links and graphics. Undoubtedly, this blockage has given rise to restlessness among marketers who craft attractive messages.

IBM further said in its report that Russia continues to be a big source of spam, with approx 11% of the global spam generating there, followed by Turkey (8%) and the US (7.1%).

Meanwhile, the report by IBM noted that cyber criminals still prefer to target online gamers as they can be deceived easily. In fact, the top four viruses or Trojan that steal password identified since January were aimed at gamers, as reported by Inquirer on August 31, 2008. Also, these viruses target games' "virtual" asset which spammers exchange for real money in the online world, said IBM.

The report further revealed that more than 50% of identified vulnerabilities were based on loopholes in Web server applications. SQL (Structured Query Language) injection flaw surged at a rapid pace to 41% of all Web server application in H1 2008 from 25% in the year of 2007. Automated attacks, which compromise servers to increase the number of hacked endpoint system, also saw a significant surge.

The IBM report added that browser plug-ins is the new favorite choice of spammers. The threat landscape has flared up from operating system to the Web-based browsers to plug-ins of the browsers. In the H1 of 2008, nearly 78% of the Web-based vulnerabilities were targeted at browser plug-ins.

Related article: Spammers Continue their Campaigns Successfully

» SPAMfighter News - 9/8/2008