Sophos, a world leader in IT security, has published its latest
report on the top twelve spam relaying countries over the third
quarter of 2006.
Sophos experts believe that a possible reason for America's
increasing lead in relayed spam when compared to its closest rival,
China, is the emergence of over 300 strains of the
mass-spammed Stratio worm. The worm, also known as Stration or
Warezov, uses a trick dependent on the victim being able to speak
English in its attempt to convert innocent PCs into members of a
spam botnet.
The top twelve spam relaying countries in July-September 2006
are as follows:
| Position |
Country |
Percentage |
| 1 |
United States |
|
| 2 |
China (incl Hong Kong) |
|
| 3 |
France |
|
| 3 |
South Korea |
|
| 5 |
Spain |
|
| 6 |
Poland |
|
| 7 |
Brazil |
|
| 8 |
Italy |
|
| 9 |
Germany |
|
| 10 |
Taiwan |
|
| 11 |
Israel |
|
| 12 |
Japan |
|
| Others |
24.3% |
"Most unsolicited emails are now sent from zombie PCs -
computers infected with Trojans, worms and viruses that turn them
into spam-spewing bots. In the past hackers were very reliant on
operating system vulnerabilities to convert an innocent computer
into a zombie - now they are turning back to malware to trick users
into running their malicious code, and opening the backdoor to
hackers," said Carole
Theriault, senior security consultant at Sophos. "Hundreds of
new versions of the Stratio worm have helped steadily increase the
volume of spam seen travelling across the net."
Elsewhere in the chart, China has managed to decrease the
proportion of spam it relays by 6.6% since last quarter. The UK has
successfully dropped out of the chart altogether and is currently
in 13th position, while Israel has entered for the first time,
taking 11th place. Q3 has also seen spammers deploy new tricks to
try and fool both users and anti-spam software.
Spammers rely more on images to bypass filters in
pump-and-dump scams
The use of spam containing embedded images continued to rise in
Q3 and currently accounts for nearly 40% of all spam, the vast
majority being used by pump-and-dump stock spam campaigns. This
trick gives spammers a better chance of having their messages read,
since images can avoid detection by those anti-spam filters that
can only analyse textual content. Often, image spam is animated to
further help the message bypass the filter. Having multiple layers
of images loaded on top of each other adds "noise", which
complicates the message by making every one unique.
Day-to-day levels of image spam in September
and October 2006.
In another pump-and-dump spam twist, criminals are also spamming
companies with email messages that offer to boost
their stock price in return for payment. This could not only
enable spammers to boost the value of their own share portfolio,
but also see them get paid by the businesses they are helping to
cheat the stock market.
Spammers deploy new email harvesting
techniques
Sophos has also identified new tricks being used to harvest
email addresses for spam purposes. The first asks recipients to
forward their chain emails for a fake
research project, while another campaign encourages users to
visit a video
tribute website, which then requests their email address in
order to view the full video.
"Integrated anti-malware and anti-spam protection is getting the
better of illegal spam peddlers - forcing them to get more creative
and crooked. However, if people are playing their security cards
right, the spammers' efforts will still be in vain," continued
Theriault. "What's most surprising is that those behind these
intrusive emails continue to take their chances, despite hefty
fines and sentences being dealt out to guilty spammers around the
world."
Spammers under the legal microscope
Q3 of 2006 has seen some high profile legal action being taken
against spammers. In September, the Australian Communications
Authority (ACMA) launched an investigation into the activities of a
man suspected of sending more than two billion 'Viagra spam'
emails, while in the US, action is being taken against two
companies accused of sending unsolicited emails about gambling and
alcoholic drinks to children. Also in the US, William Bailey, Jr of
North Carolina, faces a maximum sentence of 55 years in jail and
2,750,000 US dollars in fines if found guilty of illegally
downloading contact details of 80,000 members of the America
College of Physicians.
Spam relayed by continent
Asia continues to be the largest source of spam, although the
proportion of spam it relays has reduced by 6.1% since Q2 2006.
Europe is currently in second position, but is closing the gap
having increased the share of spam it produces by 4.8% in the last
quarter.
The breakdown of spam relaying by continent in July-September
2006 is as follows:
| Position |
Continent |
Percentage |
| 1 |
Asia |
|
| 2 |
Europe |
|
| 3 |
North America |
|
| 4 |
South America |
|
| 5 |
Africa |
|
| 6 |
Australasia |
|
Sophos recommends that computer users ensure they keep their
security software up-to-date, as well as using a properly
configured firewall and installing the latest operating system
security patches. Businesses must also look to implement a best practice policy regarding email
account usage.
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.