Spam hits record levels in October
Image-based pump-and-dumps add to inbox bloat.
Spam levels have continued to rise, defying general trends that would suggest a decreasing post-summer ratio, as more people at work means more legitimate mail. One monitor, managed security provider SoftScan, reports that spam averaged over 89% of email last month, with a single-day high of 96%, narrowly beating the previous record of 95.95% set in July.

Other spam watchers also recorded increases, with image spam, much of it pump-and-dump stock scams, growing to make up 30% of current spam volume, and almost 25% of total email traffic, according to a release from Secure Computing. A report from another managed security vendor, MX Logic, shows a 40% rise in email during the third quarter of this year, with a 77.4% spam rate in September, and a drop in the percentage of spam complying with CAN-SPAM regulations to a mere 0.27%, down from 3-4% last year.
Elsewhere, spyware specialist Sunbelt Software, among others, has warned of increasing use of botnets to distribute spam campaigns. McAfee has described a rise in the use of small offshore domains by spammers, while F-Secure, worried by domain auction sites selling on banking lookalike domain names to phishers, has suggested a dedicated top-level name for financial purposes.
01 November 2006
Tags:
del.icio.us
digg this
ARF published as IETF standard
Abuse report format helps auto-handling of email complaints
02 September 2010
Microsoft releases new fix for DLL vulnerability
Earlier workaround believed to be too complex for most users.
01 September 2010
Malicious tweets link to fake TweetDeck update
Twitter resets passwords for accounts that appear to have been hacked.
01 September 2010
94% of Internet users befriend unknown 'good-looking woman'
Sensitiva data shared after two-hour chat. (1 comment)
31 August 2010
Investment boost for Quick Heal
Indian security firm gets hefty cash injection.
27 August 2010

Quick Links
![]() |
Poll
When do you install software updates?Leave a comment
View 12 comments

2 hours ago
6 hours ago
VB2010
VB2010 will take place 29 September - 1 October 2009 at the Westin Bayshore, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Virus Bulletin currently has 208,224 registered users.



