Posted: 06th Oct, 2008 By: MarkJ
The latest global SPAM statistics from
MessageLabs, a messaging and web security services provider, has revealed an 8% decline in junk mail since August due in large part to the demise of California-based ISP Intercage on 20th September.
In September 2008, the global ratio of spam in email traffic from new and previously unknown bad sources was 70.1% (1 in 1.43 emails), a decrease of 8.1% on the previous month. However this decline will be short-lived:
Addresses on Intercages network range were being used to host command and control channels for botnets, said Mark Sunner, Chief Security Analyst, MessageLabs. In disrupting these botnets, the level of spam activity toward the end of September was severely impaired. But we dont expect this dip to last long. This time of year is notorious for increased levels of spam activity as spammers ramp up for the holiday season.
The global ratio of email-borne viruses in email traffic from new and previously unknown bad sources was 0.76% in September, a decrease of 0.4% since August. September also saw an increase of 0.16% in the proportion of
phishing attacks compared with the previous month.