Hacker Arrests Lead to Less Email Spam
Looks like targeting the right people has paid off.
In a recent report, Symantec claims that global spam email traffic went down by 47% over the last three months. Kaspersky Labs on the other hand reports an 81.1% drop for the period of July to September 2010.
The cause for the reported reductions? According to the BBC, the good guys have “scored several notable successes” against the underground organizations behind botnets, networks of computers that have been secretly taken over and directed to send out unsolicited emails. A recent victory involved shutting down up to 30 servers of the Cutwail botnet, believe to be responsible for up to 10% of global spam email.
More notable however are the 100 arrests made worldwide as part of joint efforts between authorities and security firms. There’s still a lot of work to be done however, as Symantec estimates that spam still accounts for around 86.8% of all email traffic.
It seems the worldwide crackdown has genuinely affected the ability of spammers to distribute promises of larger genitalia and easy riches. Yet it’s also clear that those who practice safe computing leave less targets for hackers to hijack.
(Spam pic by janetgalore on Flickr)
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That's still an amazing statistic. I've noticed recently that many spambots are starting to move to other means of distribution, though--online forums. In the past couple of months they've been getting lambasted, including Tom's sites.
Wow, thats great. An almost 50% drop in overall spam. Looks like someone is doing their jobs... Now, if we can only catch the people who make the viruses.
86.8% of ALL traffic, didn't realise spam was that much of an issue
I'm a troll and I live in a hole
I'm a troll and I live in a hole
Don't you mean under a bridge? Hobbits live in holes.
If I were God, I'd smite spammers to dust as they press the [spam!] button.
Include those that spam those fashion, hat etc in Toms'.
Boom, headshot.
Ok now, let's not waste resources keeping convicted spammers fed, clothed, and housed. They were playing a game; ok then, stick their heads in a bucket and pull the trigger. GAME OVER.
That sound about right...our Spam Filter (Appriver) shows the percentage of spam email for our domain to be around 87 to 93%
There will always be spam.
Spam is an integral part of our online lives.
How alse are we suposed to get hold of counterfeit medications, get rich quick, and grow a few inches in a few days.
Daym I feel shrinkage already.
let me check... nope, same amount of spam here.
Hmmmm. "...Symantec claims that global spam email traffic went down by 47% over the last three months." Kaspersky pegs the decrease at 81.1%.
Yet "Symantec estimates that spam still accounts for around 86.8% of all email traffic." So, before July, spam accounted for 134% of all e-mail traffic (by Symantec's reconing) and 168% by Kaspersky's.
I'm no mathematician, but it is not possible to get those numbers to work. You can't kill that much of something and still have it be 87% of current traffic. Impossible.
Editors? Writers? Care to explain?
let me check... nope, same amount of spam here.
Yup... 0.
Thank you Gmail!
You can't kill that much of something and still have it be 87% of current traffic. Impossible. Editors? Writers? Care to explain?
you are right you are no mathematician
to keep it simple, if 1 in 10 emails real thats 90% spam, you half the amount of spam (50%), so 1 in 5 thats 80% spam. the numbers are made simple in this example but you get the idea how this is possible. all it means is there is sooo much spam out there compared to legit mail
you are right you are no mathematicianto keep it simple, if 1 in 10 emails real thats 90% spam, you half the amount of spam (50%), so 1 in 5 thats 80% spam. the numbers are made simple in this example but you get the idea how this is possible. all it means is there is sooo much spam out there compared to legit mail
Incorrect. If 1 in 10 emails is real, 9 of 10 are spam (which is 90%, you got that right). However, if you reduce the number if spam emails by half, then 4.5 (statistically) are spam. 4.5 of 10 is 45%.
Uh, no.
The amount of legit emails doesn't increase to fill the void left from the missing spam.
If 1 in 10 emails are legit, and 9 of 10 are spam, and you reduce the amount of spam by half (4.5) you have 5.5 emails, not 10.
I've noticed a decrease in spam, although I was giving that up to setting my Hotmail account to private...
I have noticed a decrease in overall spam.
but there will always be spam
spam for tea
spam for dinner
spam, spam and more spam
Maybe I am missing something here. I don't see how using botnets and whatnot to spam is considered hacking and the people who do it hackers? The title of the article indicates hackers but the content of the article clearly indicates they are spammers and only mentions the word hackers in the last sentence has kinda a sumerized afterthought. I would have thought such activities would be beneath hackers and their abilities.
86.8% is a very high number. But, when I think of it, my actual snail mail is also 90% spam. Except that they're about food and clothes instead of larger genitalia and cheap medicine to improve the use of the aforementioned genitalia.
As I have reported to Symantec Ethics about David Freer’s (VP, Symantec – Norton, APJ) misconducts (fraud, having dissented sex with me as he lied, using company resources for personal benefits – hundreds hours phone calls, hanging out with me during office hours, negative impacts on Symantec corporate image), what they do surprise me too. They basically ignore – never process the investigation, covering the serial lying & cheating criminal up, then threaten me. As Warren Buffet said when he decides which company is worth to invest, he values the CEO’s ethic and integrity the most. Being a senior management, David Freer shall walk the talks, instead he has set up a terrible example. How dare Symantec always campaign the company itself as defeat cyber criminals, but in the real world, Symantec acts just like robbers, mafia, & criminals. How ironic!
Uh, no. The amount of legit emails doesn't increase to fill the void left from the missing spam. If 1 in 10 emails are legit, and 9 of 10 are spam, and you reduce the amount of spam by half (4.5) you have 5.5 emails, not 10.
Correct, I missed that aspect. Interesting to note that 4.5/5.5 is 81%. So if 90% of all email is spam, and you cut the number of spam emails in half, you still only reduce the overall % of spam by about 9%
Impressive, but I wish I can share the enthusiasm. I'm still getting plenty of spam mails.