Spam Emails See Small Decrease in 2009 According To ISPs
Posted by John Vinson
Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG) is an ISP group who’s goal is to help fight spam and malicious messaging practices, specifically email. The MAAWG conducts a study every quarter where they study the frequency of spam email. They draw their statistics from ISPs, who in turn gathers data from 500 million email boxes, and 200 billion message.
At the end of 2008, the study showed one of the highest rates of spam at 94.2 percent. The good news is that the percentage of spam has decreased marginally in 2009. The first quarter of 09 showed 90.4 percent, and the number dropped even further in Q2 with 89 percent.
The numbers of the report conflict slightly with other spam researchers, Symantec, McAfee, and Cisco. Symantec is reporting a higher number of spam emails in Q2, then the ISPs. These companies also have provided stats that suggest botnets are the primary provider of spam.
Jerry Upton, executive director of MAAWG discusses the ISPs report, “And this doesn’t mean you are still not seeing spam or unwanted email getting to your inbox” because these numbers represent traffic caught before it hits users inboxes”
He continues, discussing the apparent drop in spam, “At times, we’re doing better, and at times we’re holding our own. This shows the bad guys aren’t winning, but neither are we.”
Upton also believes the dip in Q2 might simply be a matter of timing. Therefore, it isn’t safe to read too much into the spam decline, “This may be a somewhat seasonal pattern — it may go up”
A fact that many might not know is how much spam is blocked by ISPs before even hitting email inboxes. Couple that with the amount of email, and the costs of blocking spam mail significantly increases. Michael O’Reirdan, chairman of MAAWG, “ISP’s are stopping spam a lot at the front door using sophisticated techniques. But that involves significant cost”
In a few weeks, the Q3 numbers of the quarterly study will be released. Symantec has already produced their numbers which state that spam mails increased going into Q3.
About the Author: John is a staff writer for webpronews