The study, based on an analysis of more than one billion daily email messages sent to its more than 50,000 customers worldwide, found that 90 to 95 percent of all email sent in 2007 was spam, increasing from an estimated 85 to 90 percent of email in 2006. This growing proportion is even more significant when compared to 2004, when the federal CAN-SPAM Act, which set parameters for sending unsolicited email and defined penalties for spammers, went into effect. At that time spam was 70 percent of all email. In 2001, spam accounted for only five percent of email messages.
"The spam war is a continuous battle between spammers and security vendors," said Dean Drako, president and CEO of Barracuda Networks. "Security vendors now require 24-by-7 defense operations to continuously monitor the Internet for new spam trends and distribute new defensive solutions immediately. This combination can block a new spam attack within minutes of its start; virtually at zero hour."
- What is the worst form of junk advertising?
- 57% of respondents view spam email as the worst form of junk advertising.
- 31% of respondents view postal junk mail as the worst form of junk advertising.
- 12% chose telemarketing.
- How much spam do you get?
- 50% said five or less spam emails per day.
- 65% received less than 10 spam emails a day.
- 13% received more than 50 spam emails a day.
Barracuda Networks report also tracked the evolving complexity of spam techniques over the past several years, finding that the majority of spam emails in 2007 utilized identity obfuscation techniques, in which spammers send email from diverse sources throughout the Internet, thus hiding their own identity from traditional reputation checks that profile sender network addresses. Further, by registering new domains or by redirecting to spam Web domains through reputable blogs, free Web site providers, or URL redirection services, spammers can effectively hide their identities from traditional reputation checks that profile spam Web domains.
Spammers also increased the usage of attachments, such as PDF files and other file formats, in 2007. Prominent spam techniques from previous years include:
- 2006 - Image spam, botnets
- 2005 - Rotating URL spam
- 2004 - Automated generation of spam variants
- 2003 - Open relays, blast emails, spoofing
Holiday spam: New Years’ resolution spam coming next
Spammers are increasingly emulating retail store fronts by tailoring their content around national holidays. For example, Barracuda Networks detected a significant increase in the number of emails directing recipients to phishing Web sites on Thanksgiving Day 2007 as scammers rushed to cash in on the "Black Friday" and "Cyber Monday" online consumer shopping sprees. In January, consumers can expect to be flooded with New Year's Resolution spam in the form of weight loss ads and offers for online college degrees.
For more statistics on spam and email threats, please visit Barracuda Central, a 24/7 security operations center that continuously monitors and blocks the latest Internet threats, at www.barracudanetworks.com/barracudacentral.
I am in the high end on spam. Several of our sites gets 1,000+ spam comments every day. email-wise I get at least 200+ spam emails every day. It is not all bad as some of those spam emails are great article fodder!