ENISA – Fight against Spam Need to be Intensifed

The European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA), which caters to cyber security in the EU, has released its latest report on spam giving details of the anti-spam measures implements by the European ISPs. The report states there has been no significant progress in the efforts to eradicate spam.

According to the report, a few ISPs among the respondents observed numerous helpdesk calls related to spam, while majority reported that 10% or lower number of calls related to spam. Thus, it is evident that majority of providers are now able to stop spam and its harm to consumers although there is a constant spam expenditure on helpdesks.

Moreover, there is a wide difference in anti-spam budgets based on the ISP's size. But even the smallest ISPs may have their anti-spam budgets as high as around EUR 10,000 per year, while the biggest ISPs may allocate millions of Euros.

According to the report, mailboxes do not receive even 5% of the total e-mail traffic, implying that the major 95% of the e-mails are spam. Earlier, the ENISA had found that a slightly more (6%) of the total e-mails got delivered.

There is a rapid rise in non-English spam with which spammers reach a greater number of people. Besides, cyber criminals increasingly prefer to target social-networking websites since they provide a huge amount of sensitive data. The constant chase between spammers and anti-spam vendors emphasizes the need for safeguarding oneself from this online abuse.

Encouragingly, there is some success in fighting spam, said the report. ISPs are adopting various measures such as technical, policy, legal support, and awareness. In addition, blacklists are used as the typical anti-spam approach.

Dr. Udo Helmbrecht, Executive Director of ENISA, stated that spam continued to be an irrelevant, costly and time-consuming affair for Europe. In light of the spam volumes, there was the need for undertaking more committed endeavors. E-mail providers required to do more in monitoring spam and detecting their source. And policy framers and regulators needed to explain the conflicts regarding account privacy, spam filtering, and delivery obligations, as reported by EarthTimes on January 21, 2010.

Related article: ENISA Calls on European States for Greater Security

» SPAMfighter News - 1/29/2010