IT security and data protection product firm Sophos has published the latest of what it calls the ‘Dirty Dozen’ of spam-relaying countries, covering the second quarter of 2012. While North America continued to reduce the proportion of spam it relayed by email, Asia increased its output and is now responsible for relaying near half (49.7pc) of all spam captured in SophosLabs’s global network of spam traps.
Despite only 5.3pc of the world’s internet users reportedly living in India, the country topped the list by a significant margin and was accountable for 11.4pc of the world’s spam seen throughout April, May and June. The UK has managed to remain out of the top twelve spam-relaying countries for the last four consecutive quarters, having last appeared in April – June 2011.
The US dropped from the top spot of spam-relaying countries to second place in Q1, and has now moved down to fourth place behind India, Italy and South Korea.
The top 12 spam-relaying countries for April to June 2012 are as follows:
Country
1India11.4%
2Italy7.0%
3South Korea6.7%
4USA6.2%
5Vietnam5.8%
6Brazil4.4%
7Pakistan3.7%
8China3.2%
9France3.1%
10Russia2.9%
11Poland2.7%
12Taiwan2.6%
Other40.3%
Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos said: “Spam emails make up an average of 45 to 50 per cent of corporate email – that is one unwanted, unsolicited message for every important communication! We all pay the price: our email systems have to process and deliver the message, and our own time is wasted dealing with the spam email once it is in our inbox.”
The IT firm recommends that organisations and ISPs implement technology and follow best practice to ensure that malicious emails are not reaching inboxes.
Asia increased its level of spam output, and the continent is now responsible for almost half of the world’s spam. Europe is responsible for about a quarter, while North America produced nearly 9%.
Top spam relaying continents for April-June 2012 are as follows:
Continent
1Asia49.7%
2Europe26.4%
3South America11.2%
4North America8.6%
5Africa3.6%
Other0.5%
“The chief driver for Asia’s dominance in the spam charts is the sheer number of compromised computers in the continent,” added Cluley. “Malicious hackers hijack poorly-protected computers, and command them – without their owners realising – to send out unwanted money-making messages and malicious links. Everyone has a responsibility to ensure that their PC or Mac is properly defended against such attacks. If they take no care over their computers they’re simply adding to the world’s spam problem.”
More about the latest Dirty Dozen report can be found on Sophos’s Naked Security site at: http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com
For more advice on how to combat spam, visit: http://www.sophos.com/en-us/security-news-trends/best-practices/spam.aspx
About Sophos
Sophos is based in Boston, US and Oxford. More information is available at www.sophos.com.
