Spam Rates Take 30% Dive

Spam levels have been growing steadily over the years, but January 2007 has so far seen a big drop, back to a level commensurate with that of the first half of 2006.

by Helen Leggatt

According to SoftScan, a leading supplier of virus and spam filters, the first week in January saw a 30 percent drop in spam levels. December’s figure was high at around 89.3 percent of all email scanned. SoftScan have not seen such a drop before and are attributing it to a broken botnet. This seems the most likely explanation as botnots are the main generators of spam.

"When you can easily buy kits that allow anyone to start their spam business with just a few clicks of the mouse, it is no wonder that spam levels are at breaking point," said Diego d'Ambra, chief technology officer at SoftScan.

"If spam distribution levels continue to rise at the rate we have seen over the past few months, I believe that by the end of 2007 governments worldwide will be obliged to enforce international anti-spam laws for the sake of commerce.

Others are speculating that the earthquake in Taiwan cut off thousands of spammers, but that would not account for the gradual drop in the spam rate.