Biting the hand that feeds IT
Biting the hand that feeds IT
|
|
Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/06/01/may_malware_report_blackspider/
May witnessed an all-time low for virus-laden emails and a record high for spam, according to stats from email filtering firm BlackSpider Technologies. Emails containing malware made up just 0.73 percent of all emails scanned by BlackSpider last month while junk emails represented 87.74 per cent. By comparison, the number of virus-infected emails reached 3.93 per cent of all emails in December 2005, a record high. The drop since then is reckoned to be down to a shift of tactics by malware authors, who are beginning to favour targeted attacks.
The high level of spam last month is partly explained by a spike that occurred between 21 and 23 May, when UK businesses were flooded by more than 250m spam emails. The surge of spam were sent from a botnet of more than 150,000 compromised PCs, or 'spambots'. The content of the emails varied throughout the deluge. Each one, however, links to websites selling penis pills and other drugs. The subject lines and body text of each spam email contained obfuscated drugs names (such as CtqALLlS). The emails ended with a poem or paragraph of random obfuscating words designed to fox less sophisticated email filters.
James Kay, CTO, BlackSpider Technologies, said: "The sheer number of compromised machines making up these botnets demonstrates that, despite the reduction in the percentage of email carrying viruses, virus infection continues to be a widespread problem". ®
Mocbot worm fuels zombie surge (23 August 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/23/mocbot_worm_zombie_surge/
AOL seeks spammer's buried gold (17 August 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/17/aol_hunts_spam_gold/
Hey, spammer, leave those kids alone (15 August 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08/15/michigan_kid_spam_prosecution/
Stateside spam slaying stalls (25 July 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/07/25/spam_relay_stats/
Open source blamed for malware development (18 July 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/07/18/open_source_virus_development/
Malware crosses 200,000 milestone (6 July 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/07/06/malware_milestone/
Spam zombies give UK ISPs the fear (5 July 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/07/05/spam_zombie_survey/
Junk mail scumbags in harvesting attack (26 June 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/06/26/directory_harvest_attack/
Anti-virus market hits $4bn (26 June 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/06/26/av_market_gartner/
Welsh email filterer can use 'spam' in trademark (16 June 2006)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2006/06/16/hormel_vs_netbop/
Taiwan fingered as the hub of spam distribution (12 June 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/06/12/spam_distribution_study_ciphertrust/
Spyware dominates malware production efforts (12 June 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/06/12/malware_trends_aladdin/
Ransomware Trojan cracked (6 June 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/06/06/ransomeware_trojan/
The time has come to ditch email (1 June 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/06/01/ditch_email/
All quiet on the malware front (3 May 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/05/03/virus_lull/
AV firms rubbish MS Vista security claims (27 April 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/04/27/av_on_ms/
Spammers adopt stealth tactics (20 February 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/20/stealth_spam/
UK shelters from smut Trojan blitz (19 December 2005)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/12/19/smut_trojan_blitz/
Phishing attacks soar as viral onslaught wanes (29 July 2005)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/29/blackspider_malware_report/
© Copyright 2008
