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U.S.: Spammer #1
John Stith
Staff Writer
2006-01-25
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The United States continues to hold onto their position as the world's number one originator of spam followed closely by China. Two years ago, Microsoft master Bill Gates predicted spam would be dead. In all actuality, it's alive and well.
The kids across the pond at Sophos released their stats for the last quarter of 2005 and they show the U.S. came in with a cool 24.5% of all spam generated worldwide. China was a close second at 22.3%. The third player, South Korea had dramatically less at 9.7%.
Fourth was France in at an even 5%, then Canada at 3% and Brazil at 2.6%. The top ten list rounds out with Spain in at 2.5%, Austria at 2.4%, Taiwan at 2.1% and Poland and Japan tying for tenth at 2%.
Sophos said in their report that non-English language spam is on the rise and most spam goes from zombie computers hijacked with various forms of malware, including Trojan horse, worms and viruses.
One thing they were quick to point out is governments are working on the problem. Legislation like CAN-SPAM helps to create a tougher environment for these spammers to operate. One example was the recent lawsuit filed and won by and Iowa-based ISP versus a Florida spammer. The judgment hit $11.2 billion and this is really the first time something like this has happened.
"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' 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."
"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."
Examining the list, it shows spam is a global problem. Consider that nations from four continents were on the list. This shows that the zombie computers are the primary barriers to stopping the spammers. Until your average user can stop get rid of spam and never open it, then the problem will continue.
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About the Author:
John is a staff writer for SecurityProNews covering cyber security.
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