The latest Sophos study shows spamming has become more distributed around the world, but over a quarter of junk mail still comes from the US.
With US legislation and law enforcement beginning to focus more on spammers like Leo Kurayev, who has been accused of leading an international spam ring, the criminals have begun moving offshore. Even so, the US still sits atop the October list from Sophos, with over 26 percent of spam sent from US domains from April to September.
The US figure has come down from 41.5 percent in 2004 for the same period of time. Nations like China (19.7%) and South Korea (15.7%), numbers 2 and 3 this year again, have seen their combined spamming grow from 20 percent in 2004 to over 35 percent.
After the top three nations, the next nine countries each held low single digit percentages of spam sent from them. Pakistan appeared in the list, and had not been there a year ago; that could represent movement by spammers to other countries.
“Efforts such as ISPs sharing knowledge on how to crack down on spammers, and authorities enforcing the CAN-SPAM legislation, have helped North America tackle the spammers based on their doorsteps. Some of the most prolific spammers have been forced to either quit the business or relocate overseas as a result,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos.
Cluley also noted how Windows XP SP2 has had an impact with its improvements in security. An included firewall in the operating system has made life more difficult for those who attempt to exploit previously unprotected systems.
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
