The U.S. relayed the most spam during the second quarter of 2007, according to Sophos. This indicates that the U.S. is continuing its leadership position from 2006 for spam relaying.
A 19.6% share of all spam relayed during the second quarter were passed along by the U.S. China followed behind with a comparatively meager 8.4%. South Korea was third on the list with a 6.5% share of all spam relayed during the quarter.
Poland (4.8%), Germany (4.2%), Brazil (4.1%), France (3.3%), Russia (3.1%), Turkey (2.9%), the U.K. (2.8%), Italy (2.8%), and India (2.5%) rounded out the top 12.
During the second quarter, the six European countries in the top 12 relayed more spam than the U.S. The U.K. was not included in the top 10 during 2006, but is now tied for 10th on the list for the second quarter of 2007.
However, Europe has seen a decline in its spam-relaying percentage, while Asia, North America, South America, and Africa have all seen increases.
In terms of spam-relaying regions, Asia led the way with 35.2%, while Europe followed with 28.5%, and North America filled in the third slot with 24.2%. South America trailed far behind with 9.6%, while Africa was fifth with 1.6%. Other regions were only responsible for 0.9% of relayed spam messages.
Global spam volume has grown 9% since the second quarter of 2006.
Sophos measured spam being relayed by analyzing spam messages that it caught in its spam traps and seeing where it had come from.
According to a report released in August 2006 by Consumer Reports, it seems that spyware and viruses have been extremely costly for Americans, who spent at least $7.8 billion on computer repairs related to spyware and viruses over the past two years.
The same report noted that 1 out of every 2 people in the U.S. were affected by spam in 2006, 1 out of every 4 people were affected by viruses (which cost them $5.2 billion in damages), 1 out of every 8 people were affected by spyware (costing them $2.6 billion), and 1 out of every 115 people were affected by phishing (at a cost of $630 million).
This is without factoring in the amount of time drained by these online threats.
Sources:
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1005176
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