Spam Level Increased in July ‘07

As per a security vendor, SoftScan, in July 2007, the level of spam goes up to 91.52% of the total mail scanned by the company. CTO of SoftScan, Diego d'Ambra, said that usually at this time, the spam level increases. But further examination discloses that they have not increased in real terms - it is only the quantity of authentic mails that has reduced, as per the reports of Vnunet on August 6, 2007.

Diego added that the spammers change their method at this time of year, which implies greater risk for companies who don't possess efficient tools of protection. Diego also claimed that earlier, the spam was prohibited to reach the inbox of the user, but now it gets through it, leaving the user not only with full day work, but also an inbox full of junk emails.

Even after the notable shift in the tactics of spammers in using PDF and Excel files for hiding messages, the company thinks it is only the decrease in the number of valid mails not the increase in spam level, as most of the people are on vacations during this period (July 2007).

Further, SoftScan reported that virus level has reduced from 0.61% to 0.39% of the total mails scanned during July 2007. phishing style viruses have also decreased from June 2007 to July 2007. But the company has also claimed that as many viruses are distributed through a series of attacks, the reduction in numbers is not due to the change in the techniques and probably it is because of a dip in their work.

As per the data prepared by the SoftScan, the top 5 virus families are (as per their ranking in the percentage of attacks) were phishing with almost 88.79%. Downloader has attained the second position with 5.86% of all the attacks and the most famous virus of June 2007, Netsky, is on the third position with 1.67% of all the attacks. Other viruses hold a fourth position with 1.04% of the total attacks. Mytob is at number five with 0.89% of total attacks.

Related article: Spam Scam Bags a Scottish Connection

» SPAMfighter News - 8/21/2007