What does your email inbox look like? Is it full of spam or are the filters doing their job? A report from an online security firm IronPort Systems said 62 billion spam messages a day jammed US email systems in October.
That is double the volume from October 2005.
IronPort says there are 2 reasons for the increase in spam. There are more varieties of spam and more bot networks that deliver spam.
The two combined have made for a high water mark in unwanted email.
John Thielens of Tumbleweed Communications told USA Today “It is less costly to launch an attack because of the widespread availability of bot nets, and there are real economic returns for phishing-related spam”.
Email message management firm Postini has also been following the increase in spam. They say that unsolicited email is 91 percent of all email.
Daniel Drunker, executive vice president of marketing at Postini said, “This dramatic rise in spam attacks on corporate networks has the Internet under a state of siege. Spam has evolved from a tool for nuisance hackers and annoying marketers to one for criminal enterprises.”
The spam problem has also effected Europe.
In a survey conducted by the European Commission found that half of the email sent in the EU is spam.
EU spokesman Martin Selmayr said, “Spam is still making up between 50% and 80% of the mails that we are receiving in Europe”.
21.6 percent of the spam in the EU originates from the US. China is second with 13.4 percent and France is third with 6.3 percent according to Mr. Selmayr.
There does not seem to be a ready solution to the growing increase in spam. It may be something we are all stuck with at least for the moment.
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Mike is a staff writer for Murdok. Visit Murdok for the latest ebusiness news.
