Topic: May 2006 SPAM/Virus E-Mail Statistics

[Clive]

ISPReview

SoftScan has revealed that just 0.37% of emails scanned during May were harbouring viruses, the lowest number they had ever recorded. Meanwhile SPAM (junk mail) accounted for 85.22% of all email scanned last month:

This time last year the percentage of emails stopped as viruses was ten times greater. In May 2004 the level was at 9%. In just two years there has been a significant drop in viruses, which may lead to users becoming complacent about email security. However, the threat to individuals and organisations still remains and the consequences of becoming infected can still be just as devastating.

?Virus writers haven?t gone away, they?ve just changed tactics. It?s no longer about the glory of being infamous, it?s about stealing data for financial gain and to do that successfully requires stealth,? comments Bo Engelbrechtsen, corporate communications manager of SoftScan.

Top five Virus families for May:

1. phishing: 45.36%
2. netsky: 22.11%
3. mytob: 16.81%
4. html.iframe: 3.70%
5. nyxem: 3.03%

For comparison, security firm BlackSpider Technologies also revealed similar details based on its own tracking. They found that e-mails containing a malicious program made up less than 1% of mail, while SPAM accounted for 87.74% of all messages.

We certainly see fewer virus infected messages, although that?s largely because our ISP?s now filter them out. SPAM, on the other hand, is worse than ever.