Australia Faces Higher Number of Spam Than The Global Average

In its recent MessageLabs Intelligence Report, the online security company 'Symantec' states that based on a worldwide study, Australia continues to have higher rates of spam compared to the global average and the peak rate was at 92.7% during October 2009.

According to the company, virus-related activity in Australia became more than twofold during October (2009) since September (2009).

It (Symantec) also said that virus-laced e-mails reaching Australian inboxes during October 2009 rated at one in 277.5 e-mails, while during September 2009, the rate was one in 626.5. While there is nothing new about the exploded spam volumes, huge numbers of spam complaints suggest how people in Australia are becoming more and more annoyed with unsolicited electronic mails.

The spam situation is a hazard for those who market products online as they rely on e-mail for the purpose. Recent researches have even indicated that GenY are ready to stop using social-networking websites but would never give up e-mail.

Moreover, Paul Wood, Senior Analyst at MessageLabs Intelligence, said that although spam mailers might be slightly over enthusiastic, yet the act of spamming represented a number game in which they had definitely succeeded with volumes till now. Possibly their method to grab opportunities first was an effort to beat other spam-spewing networks so that they became first in maximizing their own probabilities of achievement, as reported by MessageLabs on October 27, 2009.

Furthermore, phishers in their campaigns seem to be trying out different languages and are focusing to target web-based e-mail besides financial institutions. This is because of people's popular utilization of e-mail IDs for validating other websites like auction and retailing, and social-networking sites, the security company added.

Symantec's report shows a rise in seasonally-themed junk e-mails like Christmas, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day and Halloween along with a rise number of phishing assaults based on tax deadlines for Australian and British taxpayers.

Finally, Trojan Bredolab-related spam reportedly peaked during October 2009, contributing 3.5% of all junk e-mails and 5.6% of the total daily malware. MessageLabs Intelligence estimates that presently 3.6 Billion Bredolab e-mails are being circulated daily.

Related article: Australian Blogger Uses Spam To Boost Blog

» SPAMfighter News - 11/7/2009