Spam Storm is Expected to Rise in September 2007

On August 21, 2007, SoftScan claimed that there would be an expected 40% increment in spam level during September 2007, and also said that the spam emails which were stopped in the last few days has again gone up significantly.

In the last few months, spammers have gained an upper hand in latest technique like using document spam and e-card. Various types of spam have come in light, fixed into various documents that include DOC, PDF and FDF. On top of that, more e-cards have started coming out in which the mail contains a link to an e-card allegedly from a friend or family members.

CTO of SoftScan, Diego d'Ambra, said that though this type of technique has appeared earlier also, but this September 2007 seems to witness the highest spike till now. He also said that this increase, may not continue, but there exist strong indications for it to continue as spammers are working hard to improve their devices and to escape detection. In 2006 autumn, they opted for image spam and now in 2007, they have jumped to e-card and document, as per the news by Turkinternet on August 21, 2007.

As per the SoftScan, one of the vital gangs of attacks will be students going back to universities and colleges after the summer holidays.

Interestingly, Diego said that the habits of surfing by the students make them more susceptible and a perfect victim of malware. The students carelessly chat and play games online without having any substantial protection installed on their laptops which makes their laptop an easy target for the viruses, without their knowledge. D'Ambra also claimed that probably these PCs have already become a component of botnet before they arrive in campus, which provides an easy escape to the vast resource of any institute that is not secured properly.

SoftScan advised that presently, highly efficient spam would contain embedded documents and e-card spams, which exactly appear as if some friend has sent it. So the students should be more careful and alert or better stay offline (in bar) to avoid any risk from the viruses.

Related article: Spam Scam Bags a Scottish Connection

» SPAMfighter News - 9/1/2007