Ipswitch Releases 2009 Q1 Spamometer Report, Botnets Surging

According to messaging solutions developer Ipswitch's first quarter Spamometer report for 2009, while spam has been more or less constant during January-March 2009, there is no decline in its overall production.

Further, organizations continue to experience high costs of several thousand dollars every year in the form of lost productivity owing to spam.

As projected in 2008 Q4 Spamometer report of Ipswitch, following the shutdown of McColo, cyber criminals have acted fast to re-establish their botnets via the dispatch of large volume of spam as well as malware and thus generated a large number of bots in just a few days.

According to Ipswitch's report, spammers are still taking advantage of the current financial crisis by sending e-mails that claim to offer jobs, cash advances and instant loans. Spam mails targeting users' financial data became threefold in Q1 2009 compared to Q1 2008.

Moreover, with deepening recession and rising unemployment, the messaging company warns of steady attacks from botnets against financial data agencies and corporate networks. The ensuing spam messages especially hold the interest of people who seek a fast financial solution while spammers cleverly gather important information to gain access to users' bank accounts or to sell them in the black market.

Ipswitch also cautions of e-mails bragging about inexpensive college degrees as well as requests from the financial institution of the user that could enable spammers to gain hold over personal information.

Additionally, as the US generating the maximum amount of spam (41%), organizations must strive to detect it accurately. Even a larger detection of 2%-3% could save an organization dramatically. Hence, enhancing the accuracy from as high as 95%-99%, organization could reduce costs significantly in terms of improved productivity and financial gain.

Besides, earlier security investigators had discovered that the economic conditions bore a definite relationship with cyber crime. Thus, the stock market meltdown during Q4 2008 has instigated a surge in spam and phishing scams. Also, with the Wall Street crisis together with the breakdown of certain banking institutions of international repute, spam attacks too picked a strong dive in Q4 2008.

Related article: Ipswitch Attributes Spam Rates to High Stock Tip and Phishing E-Mails

» SPAMfighter News - 4/10/2009