Sophos, a world leader in protecting businesses against viruses,
spyware and spam, has published its latest report on the top twelve
spam-relaying countries over the last quarter of 2005.
Experts at SophosLabs scanned all spam messages received in its
global network of spam traps, and have revealed that although the
United States still heads up the chart, it has made significant
reductions, and for the first time accounts for less than a quarter
of all spam relayed.
However, Sophos has also found - on the eve of the date that
Bill Gates predicted spam would be eradicated* - that the level of
non-English language spam is continuing to increase, with the vast
majority now being relayed by 'zombie' computers hijacked by Trojan
horses, worms and viruses under the control of hackers. Sizeable
increases are also happening in "pump-and-dump" stock spam,
designed to artificially inflate stock prices before spammers sell
shares at considerable profit.
The top twelve spam relaying countries are as follows:
| Position |
Country |
Percentage |
| 1 |
United States |
|
| 2 |
China (inc Hong Kong) |
|
| 3 |
South Korea |
|
| 4 |
France |
|
| 5 |
Canada |
|
| 6 |
Brazil |
|
| 7 |
Spain |
|
| 8 |
Austria |
|
| 9 |
Taiwan |
|
| =10 |
Poland |
|
| =10 |
Japan |
|
| 12 |
Germany |
|
| Others |
20.3% |
Helped by legislation such as CAN-SPAM and greater information
sharing by Internet Service Providers (ISPs), the US has led the
way in imposing severe penalties and fines for those found guilty
of spamming. Recently, an Iowa-based ISP was awarded
$11.2 billion in a judgment against Florida-based spammer James
McCalla, while another culprit, Daniel Lin of Detroit, is currently
facing a sentence
of at least two years imprisonment for his actions.
"It's good news for the US - the tougher sentences being dished
out are clearly making spammers feel the heat," said Graham Cluley, senior
technology consultant at Sophos. "However, it's not such good news
for Bill Gates's skills as a fortune teller, as spam is clearly not
a thing of the past. Email users worldwide are still being
bombarded by all manner of unsolicited messages, and it must be
said that, two years on, Gates' famous prediction now looks
extraordinarily optimistic."
Elsewhere in the chart, the amount of spam relayed by South
Korean computers has fallen substantially to 9.7%, meaning that it
has been overtaken by China, which moves into second place behind
the US. The UK, responsible for relaying 1.6% of spam, has managed
to slip out of the dirty dozen altogether, and is currently in 14th
position.
"The bad news is that the contribution of China is up by seven
percentage points since October 2005, as the spam economy takes off
over there. Further bad news - and perhaps more of a surprise - is
the continued rise in the percentage of spam from France, which has
gone from 1.2% a year ago, to 3.5% in October 2005, to 5%,"
continued Cluley. "Everyone, wherever they are in the world, needs
to make sure their PC is not being used to relay spam."
"Computer users in the UK are putting the squeeze on spammers by
better protecting their computers from being turned into
spam-relaying zombies. It's encouraging to see that the UK no
longer occupies one of the top twelve positions," continued Cluley.
"In contrast, the amount of non-English language spam continues to
grow - proof that spammers are attempting to exploit every corner
of the global market with their money-making schemes."
The fact that the dirty dozen is comprised of nations from four
different continents gives an indication as to the nature of the
spam problem. Zombie computers - responsible for relaying more than
60% of the world's spam - can allow spammers to escape
country-specific legislation, as they no longer have to be located
in the same country as the spamming machines they operate.
For more information about the latest trends in spam and
viruses, read the in-depth Sophos Security Threat Management Report
2005:
Sophos recommends that computer users ensure they keep their
anti-virus software up-to-date, as well as using a properly
configured firewall and installing the latest operating system
security patches, to reduce the risk of their PCs becoming part of
a zombie network. Businesses must also look to implement a best practice policy
regarding email account usage.
* On 24 January 2004, at the World Economic Forum in
Davos, Bill Gates predicted that spam would be a "thing of the
past" within two years.
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.