96.4% of email is now spam, reveals messaging expert
1 min read
A full 96.4% of all email received is spam, the highest rate since recording began, according to network monitoring, messaging and file transfer software firm Ipswitch’s ninth Spamometer survey.
That figure compares with 95% for the previous quarter and 84% over the same period last year. The biggest category of spam, ‘finance’, accounts for 41% of all messages received in an email inbox; a quarter of spam emails are categorised as ‘medication’; with porn at 21%.
Analyst Quocirca’s service director and business process analyst Clive Longbottom says that the rise in financial spam mirrors the current worrying trend for emails requesting recipients to call up ilegal call centres and pass over personal financial information.
“The trend … is a continued move from pragmatic, opportunistic spam being carried out by a single user for their own gain, to organised criminal gangs using botnets to gain both volume of emails and a degree of anonymity from automated shut-downs, alongside the use of professionally run help desks, where the unwary are persuaded to give up there financial security details,” he says. “This level of sophistication shows that really is only one solution to spam – to stop it before it reaches the end user.”
“The current trend for Vishing highlights the problem of criminals tending to be half a step in front of the law and causing significant damage before they are brought to justice,” adds Ipswitch’s president of the messaging division, Tripp Allen.
“We are already seeing the impact on individuals who have become victims. Vishing has undoubtedly knocked consumer confidence in the security of VoIP technologies. Even though the vulnerabilities were generally down to the user not taking the proper precautions,” he notes.
