Sophos has published its latest report on the top 12 spam-relaying countries in the last quarter of 2005.
Experts at SophosLabs scanned all spam messages received in its global network of spam traps, and have revealed that although the United States still tops the chart, it has made significant reductions. For the first time, the U.S. accounted for less than one quarter of all spam relayed.
However, on the eve of a Bill Gates prediction that spam would be eradicated, Sophos founds that the level of non-English language spam continues to increase. On Jan. 24, 2004, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Gates predicted that spam would be a “thing of the past” within two years.
In addition, the vast majority of spam is now being relayed by ‘zombie’ computers hijacked by Trojan horses, worms and viruses under the control of hackers. Sizeable increases are also happening in “pump-and-dump” stock spam, designed to artificially inflate stock prices before spammers sell shares at a considerable profit.
The top twelve spam relaying countries are:
1. United States 24.5 %
2. China (inc Hong Kong) 22.3 %
3. South Korea 9.7 %
4. France 5.0 %
5. Canada 3.0 %
6. Brazil 2.6 %
7. Spain 2.5 %
8. Austria 2.4 %
9. Taiwan 2.1 %
10. Poland 2.0 %
10. Japan 2.0 %
12. Germany 1.8 %
Others 20.3%
Helped by legislation such as the CAN-SPAM Act and greater information sharing by Internet Service Providers (ISPs), the United States has led the way in imposing severe penalties and fines for those found guilty of spamming. Recently, an Iowa-based ISP was awarded US$11.2 billion in a judgment against Florida-based spammer James McCalla, while another culprit, Daniel Lin of Detroit, faces a sentence of at least two years imprisonment for his actions.
“Officials in the United States have cracked down considerably on spammers by giving out harsh sentences to those convicted — that’s good news for organizations and consumers,” said Ron O’Brien, senior security analyst at Lynnfield, Mass.-based Sophos. “Unfortunately, e-mail users around the world are still being bombarded by unsolicited messages.”
Elsewhere in the chart, the amount of spam relayed by South Korean computers has fallen substantially, to 9.7 per cent, meaning that it has been overtaken by China, which moves into second place behind the United States. The United Kingdom, responsible for relaying 1.6 per cent of spam, has managed to slip off the dirty dozen altogether, and is currently in 14th position.
The fact that the dirty dozen is comprised of nations from four different continents gives an indication as to the nature of the spam problem. Zombie computers — responsible for relaying more than 60 per cent of the world’s spam — can allow spammers to escape country-specific legislation, as they no longer have to be located in the same country as the spamming machines they operate.
