82 Million Spam mails Flow into British Homes Every Day

'Spamdemic', the outbreak of unsolicited spam mails, in Britain is spreading, according to a recent research by uSwitch.com, an independent service for price comparison and switching.

There are almost 82 Million spam mails flowing into British homes every day - that is equivalent to 947 spam mails per second, the research revealed. Also, about 6.6 Million recipients are not aware of how to stop these junk messages in the most appropriate way. So, they remain exposed to malware and viruses.

The study shows that a vast majority (90%) of Internet users at home now gets spam mails, while it was 85% in 2006. These homes receive 14 Million more junk messages than what they used to get in 2006. That means one in four homes have their inboxes bombarded with a minimum of 10 unsolicited commercial e-mails each day.

The study also noted that over 28% users reported of suffering from problems related with viruses, which infected their computers after the arrival of spam mails. While 81% would remove the unrecognized e-mails without even opening them, some 12% actually read the e-mails before removing them, and some 41% (6.6 Million) people clicked the 'remove me' option at some point of e-mail checking. The single act of clicking on the 'remove me' option made a favorable situation for spammers who get to know that the e-mail id is active with ineffective or inadequate spam filters.

Although several Internet service providers (ISPs) offer spam filters in their service package, yet over 1 Million PC users fail to protect their systems from spam attacks. This careless attitude by consumers towards spam explains to some extent the UK's position as the fourth country in the world to be the worst haven for spammers. The country has leaped from the seventh rank in 2006.

In this Internet age, spam has become a great terror. Unfortunately, with people's greater dependence on the Internet, spam is spiraling in the proportion of an epidemic, uSwitch.com's Head of Communication Service, Steve Weller, said. BCS reported this on October 4, 2007. So, the government should frame stronger rules to control spam and pressurize ISPs for more preventive measures against such attacks, Weller added.

Related article: “Loopholes did not cause online banking thefts”: ICBC

» SPAMfighter News - 10/18/2007