IT security and control firm Sophos,
has published its latest report into the top twelve spam relaying countries,
covering the first quarter of 2011.
Despite
remaining at the top, the USA's proportion of the global spam output fell
significantly from 18.83% to 13.7% of all spam relayed from compromised
computers. The United Kingdom also saw a drop, with its spam pollution falling
from 4.54% to 3.2% of total global spam relayed, the UK moving down from fifth
to sixth place in the dirty dozen.
The
top 12 spam relaying countries for January to March 2011 are as
follows-
1
|
USA
|
13.7%
|
2
|
India
|
7.1%
|
3
|
Russia
|
6.6%
|
4
|
Brazil
|
6.4%
|
5
|
S
Korea
|
3.8%
|
6
|
United
Kingdom
|
3.2%
|
7
|
Italy
|
3.1%
|
8
|
France
|
3.1%
|
9
|
Spain
|
2.8%
|
10
|
Germany
|
2.6%
|
11
|
Romania
|
2.5%
|
12
|
Poland
|
2.3%
|
13
|
Other
|
42.8%
|
Sophos
warns that the continued growth in popularity of mobile platforms and social
networking means that the number of spam attack vectors is increasing and
computer security still needs to be at the forefront of people's
minds.
"Although
the USA and UK contribution to the global spam problem has decreased in
percentage terms, it is essential for organizations not to become
complacent,"
said Graham Cluley, Senior Technology Consultant at Sophos.
"Financially-motivated
criminals are controlling compromised zombie computers to not just launch spam
campaigns, but also to steal identity and bank account information. Users need
to be educated about the dangers of clicking on links or attachments in spam
mails - and many computers may already be under the control of cybercriminals.
Businesses and computer users must take a more proactive approach to spam
filtering and IT security in order to avoid adding to this global
problem."
A
rise in spam email relayed from individual Asian countries is reflected in the
breakdown of spam relayed by continent-
Top
spam-relaying continents, January - March 2011
1
|
Asia
|
35.1%
|
2
|
Europe
|
32.0%
|
3
|
North
America
|
17.3%
|
4
|
South
America
|
12.4%
|
5
|
Africa
|
2.3%
|
6
|
Other
|
0.9%
|
Asia
has leapfrogged Europe - the top spamming continent in Q4 2010 - to become the
relay point for most of the world's spam in the first quarter of 2011. Although
the USA continues to be the top spam-relaying country, North America remains in
third place by continent, a long way behind Asia and Europe. The changes in spam
output from quarter to quarter demonstrate the ongoing struggle in defending
computers from being compromised by malware and the nuisance of unsolicited
emails.
"While
spam continues to make money for the spammers, it will continue to be a global
problem,"
explained Cluley. "Too
many computer users are risking a malware infection that sees their computer
recruited into a spam botnet. To combat the spammers, it's not only essential
for computer users to run up-to-date security software, they must also resist
the urge to purchase products advertised by spam."
Sophos
recommends that companies automatically update their corporate virus protection,
and run a consolidated solution at their email and web gateways to defend
against spam and viruses. Home users are advised to defend their computers with
virus protection, to prevent becoming part of a botnet used for the purposes of
distributing spam emails.
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About
Sophos
More
than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection
against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security
and data protection solutions that are simple to manage deploy and use and that
deliver the industry's lowest TCO. Sophos offers award-winning encryption,
endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by
SophosLabs-a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two
decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data
protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards. Sophos is
headquartered in Oxford, UK and Boston, US. More information is available at
www.sophos.com
