Explore the latest news and trends  

Sign up for our weekly security newsletter


Be the first to receive important updates on security





Send

Spam Spiked in Q1 2007; SonicWALL

SonicWALL, Inc. compiled statistics for e-mail security to show that spam volumes spiked by 44.29% in the first quarter of 2007 from the last quarter of 2006. junk e-mail including viruses, phishing spam, Directory Harvest and similar attacks increased by 24.46% during the same period.

A few years ago, spam drew most attention of the Congress that resulted in anti-spam act in late 2003. However, a bill is quite incapable to completely wipe out spam. It only provides law enforcement agencies a means to chase spammers. Therefore, if a suspicious message enters a user's inbox it is best to forward them to spam@uce.gov for the FTC.

SonicWALL Smartlab used aggregated results to arrive at the spam figures. These figures contributed for the 28.9% rise because of SonicWALL's new E-mail Security customer installations when reports were coming in.

Although phishing attacks went on to increase, they still accounted for nearly 1% of total e-mails in Q1 2007. phishing attacks reached a peak in mid-January reflecting similar trends as in previous years. This was the time when consumers were clearing their holiday bills and phishers were exploiting the busy credit card activity.

According to SonicWALL, Inc. Directory Harvest still accounts for the bulk of unsolicited e-mails as was evident during first three months of 2007 when it was at 57.99%. But it dropped from 63.52% in Q4 2006. Good e-mail went up slightly from 5.84% in Q4 2006 to 6.83% in Q1 2007.

There were no signs of appeasement of junk e-mails, said Gleb Budman, senior director of E-mail Security at SonicWALL. It was dramatically high in 2006 and has further risen by 24% in just three months early this year. IT administrators and Internet users are striving hard to cope with productivity loss, as 90% of incoming e-mails are unwanted. Sys-con.com published this in news on May 7, 2007.

A user requires approximately 34 seconds to manage a junk e-mail, added Budman. There is need to constantly update anti-spam software in order to fight back mass of unproductive or risky e-mails that the malware economy generates, as published by Sys-con.com on May 7, 2007.

Related article: Spam Scam Bags a Scottish Connection

ยป SPAMfighter News - 5/16/2007

3 simple steps to update drivers on your Windows PCSlow PC? Optimize your Slow PC with SLOW-PCfighter!Email Cluttered with Spam? Free Spam Filter!

Dear Reader

We are happy to see you are reading our IT Security News.

We do believe, that the foundation for a good work environment starts with fast, secure and high performing computers. If you agree, then you should take a look at our Business Solutions to Spam Filter & Antivirus for even the latest version of Exchange Servers - your colleagues will appreciate it!

Go back to previous page
Next