Spam Reached Record Heights in 2007, Says Barracuda Networks

Way back in 2004, junk e-mails comprised just 70% of total messages. During 2001, the figure stood at a mere 5%. But now, according to the annual spam survey by Barracuda Networks, more than 95% of total e-mail sent is junk.

As indicated by the report, strangely enough, America's Can-Spam Act has done nothing to prevent the spam attack. It has reached the stage where, as per another Barracuda study of 261 businesspeople, gradually more businessmen favor teleselling to junk e-mail.

The survey conducted by Barracuda Networks was founded on a study of over one billion e-mails sent everyday to its above 50,000 clients globally. It showed that 90 to 95% of overall e-mail transmitted in 2007 was spam, rising from an anticipated 85 to 90% of messages in 2006.

The survey by Barracuda Networks also established that half the consumers got less than five spam e-mails daily in their inbox. Nearly 65% got below ten spam emails daily, even as 13% were flooded with nearly more than 50 spam messages per day.

Barracuda Networks discovered that most of spam messages in 2007 used identity shrouding methods. spammers also stepped up the use of attachments, like PDF files and file formats in this year (2007). As per Barracuda Networks, 57% of responders consider junk e-mail to be the most terrible type of spam promotion, nearly twice of 31% represented by postal spam.

In the beginning of December 2007, another security company - SoftScan - declared that 96% of overall messages at present are spam. Spam volumes have been over 90% for the past six months (June-November 2007). Moreover, during weekends, when authorized business e-mails are fewer, spam volumes have constantly been more than 98%.

Spam is getting more high-tech. It is also tough to recognize since the syntax and spelling is able to persuade a local person much more than ever. Native language junk has usually been simple for consumers to recognize as it had evidently been converted electronically, remarked SoftScan's Chief Technology Officer, Diego d'Ambra, in a statement reported by Computing on December 4, 2007.

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» SPAMfighter News - 12/23/2007