UAE Spam Level Hit an Average of 83.4% in 2009

In 2009, average spam levels in the UAE touched 83.4% while the average virus rate was recorded at one in 339.6 e-mails, as per Symantec MessageLabs Intelligence 2009 Annual Security report.

The report shows a tumultuous spam activity during 2009, with global average spam levels touching 87.7%, striking the highest level of 90.4% in May 2009 and the lowest level of 73.3% in February 2009.

Botnets were found continuing their dominance in the cyber security world in 2009, with the 10 substantial heavyweight botnets which include Mega-D, Cutwail and Rustock. Cutwail was a ruling force behind both spam and malware in 2009, accountable for producing 29% of total spam volume, i.e. 8,500 Billion spam e-mails during April-November 2009.

The security experts claimed that surging spam rates is nothing new for the UAE. Actually, the previously released Q3 2009 MessageLabs Intelligence report by Symantec clearly revealed that the spam and virus infection levels in the UAE rose in September 2009 whereas they showed a declining trend globally. Spam rate in the UAE rose to 91% in September 2009 against 85.3% recorded in August 2009, while it came down from 88.5% to 86.4% on the global level.

Further, the worldwide ratio of e-mail containing viruses in the total e-mail traffic from both latest and previously unfamiliar bad sources stood at one in 399.2 e-mails (0.25%) in September , a decline of 0.09% from August. The ratio was one in 351.8 e-mails in the UAE, up from the level of one in 228.7 e-mails in August 2009.

The security experts stated that 2009 was the year when threat scenario grinded its skills instead of depending on large scale spam campaigns and malware assaults. The security firms seized more number of malicious variants with higher efficacy, competence and improvements in technology.

It is learnt that security company Symantec intercepted almost 21 Million diverse kinds of spam runs in 2009, almost twice the number witnessed in 2008, and saw a year on year growth of 23% in malware variants. These considerable increases imply that because of the higher accessibility of specific criminal toolkits, it was simpler to generate, circulate and use spam and malware than earlier.

Related article: U.S. Businesses Lose $712 Per Worker Due to Spam

» SPAMfighter News - 1/11/2010