20 April 2006
Sophos report reveals 'dirty dozen' spam relaying countries for January-March 2006
Asia named worst spam relaying continent
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 first quarter of 2006.
Experts at SophosLabs™ scanned all spam messages received in the company's global network of spam traps, and have revealed that while the United States has continued to make good progress in its efforts to reduce spam-relaying statistics, there is still more spam sent from US computers than any other nation. However as a continent, North America is now close to being overtaken by Europe, with both lying behind Asia in terms of spam relayed.
The top twelve spam relaying countries for January to March 2006 are as follows:
| Position | Country | Percentage |
| 1 | United States | |
| 2 | China (incl Hong Kong) | |
| 3 | South Korea | |
| 4 | France | |
| 5 | Poland | |
| 6 | Spain | |
| 7 | Germany | |
| 8 | Brazil | |
| 9 | Japan | |
| 10 | United Kingdom | |
| 11 | Netherlands | |
| 12 | Taiwan | |
| Others | 20.6% |
"Two years ago, the US accounted for over half of all spam sent to the
world - now it is less than a quarter, evidence which confirms that more
Americans are waking up to the need to protect their home computers from
malicious hackers," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "More and more viruses, worms and Trojan horses are being designed to take over innocent users' computers with the intention of stealing information and sending out junk email campaigns."
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 its most prolific spammers. During the
first quarter of 2006, several gang members responsible for distributing
massive quantities of pornography admitted their involvement in a criminal
spam ring. Jennifer Clason of New Hampshire, Andrew Ellifson of Arizona, and Kirk Rogers of California were part of a gang that spammed out millions of emails advertising hardcore adult websites, and are scheduled to be sentenced in the next few months.
"We're seeing spammers being successfully brought to justice in the US, but
it's important to remember that they can be based anywhere in the world.
In fact, the vast majority of spam is generated from zombie computers -
hijacked PCs infected by malware," continued Cluley. "A combination of
technology, legal action, user education and international co-operation is
needed to truly make spam a thing of the past."
The reduction in US-relayed spam has had a significant impact on the rest
of the chart, with China now closer than ever to the top. Poland, Spain
and Germany all saw their spam-relaying percentages rise between Q4 2005,
and Q1 2006, while the UK, which was absent altogether from the Q4 2005
dirty dozen, has now re-entered the table in tenth position. These changes
have helped Europe challenge North America for second position in the top
spam-relaying continents.
The breakdown of spam relaying by continent for January to March 2006 is as follows:
| Position | Continent | Percentage |
| 1 | Asia | |
| 2 | North America | |
| 3 | Europe | |
| 4 | South America | |
| 5 | Australasia | |
| 6 | Africa | |
| Others | 0.1% |
"Europe is in danger of overtaking North America as the second worst
spam-relaying part of the world. This continental shift is inevitable
because as North America's percentage continues to fall, the rest of the
world is witnessing a rise," explained Cluley. "It's imperative that
computer users worldwide put better defences in place to prevent their
computers from being converted into spam-spewing zombies."
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. Businesses must
also look to implement a best practice policy regarding email account
usage.
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About Sophos
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.
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