-
US Tops Dirty Dozen List Again
Techtree News Staff, Jan 25, 2006 1909 hrs ISTSophos has published its latest report on the top 12 spam-spewing countries for Q4 2005 and USA still tops the charts.
Sophos has published its latest report on the top 12 spam-spewing countries for Q4 2005. USA still tops the charts; but for the first time, the country accounts for less than one quarter of all spam relayed.
Dubbed the "dirty dozen", Sophos' list of 12 countries in the period from Oct to Dec 2005 has United States in first position with 24.5 percent, China with 22.3 percent in second position, South Korea comes in third with 9.7 percent, France (5.0 percent), Canada (3.0 percent), Brazil (2.6 percent), Spain (2.5 percent), Austria (2.4 percent), Taiwan (2.1 percent), Poland (2.0 percent), Japan (2.0 percent) and Germany (1.8 percent) come in succession with other countries accounting for 20.3 percent.
The list shows that while the amount of spam spewed by South Korean computers has fallen substantially to 9.7 percent, China has moved-up to second place with 22.3 percent spam to its credit.
Significantly the US has led the way in imposing severe penalties and fines for spammers, helped largely by legislation including the CAN-SPAM Act plus greater information sharing by Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
Ron O'Brien, senior security analyst, Sophos (Lynnfield), said, "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. Unfortunately, email users around the world are still being bombarded by un-solicited messages."
That Sophos' "dirty dozen" covers countries from 4 different continents indicates that "zombie computers" - which are responsible for relaying over 60 percent of the world's spam, are capable of allowing spammers to escape country-specific legislation.
Prominent among other findings, Sophos found the level of non-English language spam continuing to increase. Majority of spam is being relayed by "zombie computers" hijacked by Trojan horses, worms and viruses. There is also considerable increase in "pump-and-dump" stock spam, which is geared to artificially inflate stock prices before spammers sell shares at higher profit.
As a safety measure, Sophos has advised computer users to keep their anti-virus software up-to-date, use a properly configured firewall, and install the latest operating system security patches in order to reduce the risk of their PCs becoming part of a zombie network.
SMS REV to 59995 to get expert reviews on latest phones, laptops, cameras and more.
SMS TIPS to 59995 to get Tips and Tricks for phones, laptops, cameras and more.
Rs. 3 per SMS
Dubbed the "dirty dozen", Sophos' list of 12 countries in the period from Oct to Dec 2005 has United States in first position with 24.5 percent, China with 22.3 percent in second position, South Korea comes in third with 9.7 percent, France (5.0 percent), Canada (3.0 percent), Brazil (2.6 percent), Spain (2.5 percent), Austria (2.4 percent), Taiwan (2.1 percent), Poland (2.0 percent), Japan (2.0 percent) and Germany (1.8 percent) come in succession with other countries accounting for 20.3 percent.
The list shows that while the amount of spam spewed by South Korean computers has fallen substantially to 9.7 percent, China has moved-up to second place with 22.3 percent spam to its credit.
Significantly the US has led the way in imposing severe penalties and fines for spammers, helped largely by legislation including the CAN-SPAM Act plus greater information sharing by Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
Ron O'Brien, senior security analyst, Sophos (Lynnfield), said, "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. Unfortunately, email users around the world are still being bombarded by un-solicited messages."
That Sophos' "dirty dozen" covers countries from 4 different continents indicates that "zombie computers" - which are responsible for relaying over 60 percent of the world's spam, are capable of allowing spammers to escape country-specific legislation.
Prominent among other findings, Sophos found the level of non-English language spam continuing to increase. Majority of spam is being relayed by "zombie computers" hijacked by Trojan horses, worms and viruses. There is also considerable increase in "pump-and-dump" stock spam, which is geared to artificially inflate stock prices before spammers sell shares at higher profit.
As a safety measure, Sophos has advised computer users to keep their anti-virus software up-to-date, use a properly configured firewall, and install the latest operating system security patches in order to reduce the risk of their PCs becoming part of a zombie network.
SMS REV to 59995 to get expert reviews on latest phones, laptops, cameras and more.
SMS TIPS to 59995 to get Tips and Tricks for phones, laptops, cameras and more.
Rs. 3 per SMS
Related Links
Discussion Board
(6) Comments
Alok Tripathi
,Indore, on Jan 26, 2006 09:54 AM
Report abuse
rohit
,delhi, on Jul 14, 2008 04:35 PM
Anonymous
,The Internet, on Jan 25, 2006 10:25 PM
living_dead
,World, on Jan 26, 2006 10:45 PM
