According to McAfee’s Q2 Threats Report, spam and botnets are at all-time highs, with the quarter’s boost in spam volume marking the longest streak of increasing spam volumes ever.
Since March, spam volumes have increased 141 percent, reaching 92 percent, a record that breaks the 91 percent observed in the second and third quarters in 2008, according to the report.
“So maybe spam is the leading indicator for the economy and better times are just ahead,” the report quips. “We can hope this is true, but the one thing we can predict is that spam is back and looks to be heading toward new heights.”
The total percentage of spam originating from the Top 10 countries (64.9 percent) declined 5 percentage points from the previous quarter (70.0 percent).
In the second quarter, 25.5 percent of all spam messages were sent from the U.S., which is down markedly from 35.0 percent in the first quarter.
Brazil was second on the list with 9.8 percent, followed by Turkey with 5.8 percent, India with 5.6 percent, Poland with 4.9 percent, the Republic of Korea with 4.6 percent, Russia with 2.4 percent, Romania with 2.3 percent, Spain with 2.1 percent and the Czech Republic with 1.9 percent.
The prescription drug category was the subject of 60.0 percent of all spam in the second quarter, a huge increase from 25.0 percent in the first quarter. McAfee notes that “Most of the spam we see today claims to come from one Canadian pharmacy.”
The report explains that the site usually linked to a Chinese or Russian URL registered with a Chinese registrar.
“A distinguishing feature of this spam is that it claims it was sent because the recipient requested it or a friend sent it, usually from a newsletter or mailing list.”
Advertising was the subject for 16.0 percent, followed by male enhancement with 7.3 percent, DSN with 6.6 percent, product replica with 2.0 percent, dating with 1.2 percent, storm with 1.1 percent, job with 1.0 percent, debt loan with 1.0 percent and other with 3.8 percent.
The report also noted that more than 14 million computers have been infected by botnets, a 16 percent increase from the last quarter.
McAfee researchers also discovered that during a 30-day span, Auto-Run malware, which “exploits Windows’ Auto-Run capabilities, does not require any user clicks to activate and is most often spread through portable USB and storage devices,” infected more than 27 million files.
Sources:
http://newsroom.mcafee.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=3545
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10298441-83.html
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2350918,00.asp
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