Posted on 01/11/2007 6:12:57 PM PST by qam1
A new report has revealed that spam mail constituted almost 94 per cent of all emails during December, a record figure.
The study by security firm Postini indicated that spam levels have more than doubled since December 2005, posing a serious threat to businesses.
It said that most spam is being created by botnets and web users can expect figures to continue to increase throughout 2007 as more computers become connected to the internet.
'This continued rise in spam levels is threatening the viability of email for businesses that are not properly protected and is sapping the productivity of hundreds of millions of workers around the world,' commented Daniel Druker, executive vice president of marketing at Postini.
'Just 15 minutes per day dealing with the increased volume of spam can cost companies $3,200 [£1,643] per employee per year, which adds up to tens of billions of dollars of lost productivity around the world.'
IT security company SoftScan reported a mysterious 30 per cent drop in spam levels last week, with possible reasons including the temporary failure of a botnet and a recent earthquake in the Asia region disrupting spammers' access to the internet.
I'm wondering to what degree ISPs can reduce spamming by blocking port 25 by default. Some do, but not all.
That explains it. I normally have about 50-75 per day on my spam blocker, almost all in a language I can't read (Asian). The last few days I've had less than 10.
A 1 cent charge per email for everyone would slow spamers way down.
Hey, wait a minute! Congress passed the CAN-SPAM Act in 2003! There's no spam any more, is there?
/sarcasm
I get so many emails trying to sell me Viagra type products and I am a WOMAN!
Not in the least. They use malware to hijack computers and send spam. Clueless computer users would be hit with huge bills. ...and the spammers would just laugh some more.
First, this is impossible to do. If ISPs start doing this, they will rapidly lose customers. I can set up a mail server at home on my existing always-on computer for free. Guess what! That circumvents your 1 cent charge.
Second, they wouldn't send spam if it didn't work. Somewhere there are idiots falling for these scams.
Roadrunner is excellent as far as stopping spam. Outlook shows only 1 or two junk e-mails a month. SBC/Yahoo used to let 10+ a day through
From Preacher Paul or Preacher Peter?
Either we are equal or we are not. Good people ought to be armed where they will, with wits and guns and the truth. NRA KMA
Interesting.
If you'd ask me, I'd say that between filters, etc my spam is down dramatically from a year or two ago.
I have had SBC/Yahoo for over a year and have been more than impressed with its spam blocker. It is very rare that one will hit my inbox.
I use Postini (quoted in the article) for our corporate spam fiter. They're right about the recent surge. My org has about 800 users and we've seen peak traffic of 60,000 msgs/hour at the filter. No, I'm not kidding.
Only a tiny fraction of that makes it through. But there has absolutely been a huge surge in spam traffic in the last year.
Unfortunately it did not include a death penalty provision
I've had about a dozen spams in 3 years. I hate the lefty home page but, I'll admit, AOL is my server. It came with the 'puter.
Flame away :>)
I use Postini (quoted in the article) for our corporate spam fiter. They're right about the recent surge. My org has about 800 users and we've seen peak traffic of 60,000 msgs/hour at the filter. No, I'm not kidding.
Only a tiny fraction of that makes it through. But there has absolutely been a huge surge in spam traffic in the last year.
Oh, yes. Some of us even remember the Presidential address on the subject at the time. Yes, siree "Mission accomplished!"
Talk about responsibility in government.
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