Email Spam Down 82 Percent Since July 2010
- Posted on July 4, 2011 at 12:53pm by
Christopher Santarelli
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Sick of spending ten minutes every morning clearing your inbox of junk mail? Take comfort knowing you’re doing it a lot less than last year. Symantec Intelligence reports that there were approximately 40 billion spam emails sent per day in June 2011, an 82.22 percent decline from the over 225 billion sent in July 2010. Symantec released this accompanying graph with their study, tracking the amount of Spam messages per day from July 2010-July 2011.
Cisco Systems studies also back up Symantec, having noticed a decline from 300 billion in June 2010 to just 40 billion in June 2011. In July 2010 those billions of spam messages were accounting for 90% of all email traffic. Now accounting for only 72.9% of all email.
Former Washington Post security reporter Brian Krebs attributes the decline to the arrest of several key hackers, and the high-profile takedowns of some of the Web’s most notorious botnets.
“In the past year, authorities have taken down some of the biggest botnets and apprehended several top botmasters. Most recently, the FBI worked with dozens of ISPs to kneecap the Coreflood botnet. In April, Microsoft launched an apparently successful sneak attack against Rustock, a botnet once responsible for sending 40 percent of all junk email.
In December 2010, the FBI arrested a Russian accused of running the Mega-D botnet. In October 2010, authorities in the Netherlands arrested the alleged creator of the Bredolab botnet and dismantled huge chunks of the botnet. A month earlier, Spamit.com, one of the biggest spammer affiliate programs ever created, was shut down when its creator, Igor Gusev,was named the world’s number one spammer and went into hiding. In August 2010, researchers clobbered the Pushdo botnet, causing spam from that botnet to slow to a trickle.”
While a Matrix 4 sounding plot has unraveled over the last year to take down some of the world’s biggest spammers, Krebs reports that “the crooks behind these huge crime machines are fighting back — devising new approaches designed to resist even the most energetic takedown efforts.” Like the devastating TDL-4 superbug which has already dismantled 4.5 million PCs using a peer-to-peer network that includes multiple failsafe mechanisms. Law enforcement take credit for takedowns that temporarily provide relief, but admit lasting takedowns can only be achieved by putting criminals behind bars.
How to you avoid spam and protect your computer against cyber attack?
(H/T: Mashable)
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BetsyRoss1513
Posted on July 6, 2011 at 8:27amThey finally figured out we’re armed with a delete button and half a brain. The definition of insanity……
Report Post »sWampy
Posted on July 5, 2011 at 2:08pmThe obama economy even effects spammers, how sad.
Report Post »the_ancient
Posted on July 4, 2011 at 9:08pm@NOTYERHUCKLEBERRY
The problem is most of what people get today is not legally spam…. I get alot of “Junk” emails but are not legally spam…. Most people sign up for websites, or order things, and in the fine print agree that your email address can (will) be sold to email lists. Once that happens they can legally send you email unless you asked each one of them to be removed from their list
Report Post »canuck44
Posted on July 4, 2011 at 7:41pmIt has tapered off for sure. I don’t think jail is the answer, but would prefer multiple fractions of all extremities/digits and rearrangement of the facial features on a few of the spammers with a promise to return if the first application is ineffective. Most of these are wimpy little nerds and the lessons can be taught quickly. Undoubtedly the word will pass quickly.
Report Post »dontbotherme
Posted on July 4, 2011 at 7:07pmAlmost afraid to say this, but I get nothing. Good security. This is not a challenge… :)
Report Post »Jenny Lind
Posted on July 4, 2011 at 6:58pmYou could not prove this by me, I spend time every day getting rid of unwanted adds, some of them disgusting.
Report Post »NOTYERHUCKLEBERRY
Posted on July 4, 2011 at 6:02pmCould fool me. I still get 100+ pieces of spam compared to 3 good pieces of mail. Needless to say I’m dumping my server and finding a better one.
Report Post »joex51
Posted on July 4, 2011 at 10:57pmit’s not just the server it is also the email address, if it is on spam lists it is already too late.
Report Post »also google your email address to see if it is on the web anywhere. thats another way to get a lot of spam!