Nov 25, 2008 : Spam Still On The Skids
📅 - Two weeks since web hosting provider McColo - the alleged host to some of the most heinous criminals on the Internet - went offline, analytics firms across the web have found that global volume of spam has dropped by up to 75 percent and is staying low.
After staking out McColo (mccolo.com) for the past four months, the Washington Post's Security Fix blog found that the San Jose host was likely hosting "some of the most disreputable cyber-criminal gangs in business today," including child pornography, anti-virus scams and malicious software, which has stolen banking and credit card information from more than half a million people. Security Fix blogger Brian Krebs informed two of its upstream Internet providers, which subsequently ceased their service to McColo.
Since effectively blowing the whistle on McColo, Krebs has found spam levels have been remaining low. Citing email security firm IronPort's (http://www.ironport.com) reports that it blocked around 35 billion junk emails Monday, down from weeks ago when it would have typically flagged roughly 160 billion messages daily. He also noted that Spamcop.net's reports show spam volumes "well below half" the levels reported before McColo was taken down.
Backing up the notion that spam levels will be lower in the short-term, managed security services provider MX Logic's (http://www.mxlogic.com) November Threat Forecast and Report, this year's holiday season may have significantly lower spam levels.
The report notes that a typical spam cycle includes levels beginning to rise in April or May, then surging to their highest levels in November and December as the holiday season approaches. For instance, last year, MX Logic accurately predicted a 50 percent November and December spam increase.
Spam levels, however, may not follow their traditional patterns in 2008, according to the report, which noted recent news about spam network shutdowns will have an effect on the volume of spam messages, even though "spam remains too lucrative to assume that this trend will continue through the holidays," the report stated.
While unwanted spam may be in decline, MX Logic expects an unprecedented increase in unwanted "opt-in" emails from retailers and other e-commerce sites this holiday season. "Think twice before handing out your e-mail address this holiday season," the report warns. Considered legitimate messages requested by the recipient, Opt-in e-mails flow freely to the inbox, bypassing spam filters. There are often very few, if any, restrictions or limitations on the frequency of e-mails that vendors can send to those who opt-in to receive messages.
The WHIR reported earlier this week that the Retail Email Blog (http://www.retailemailblog.com) has issued its Retail Email Index, which also reports a rise in email marketing activity among US retailers. With still five weeks until Christmas, the Retail Email Blog has found an 11 percent increase marketing emails in the week ending November 21 compared with the previous week, while increasing by 19 percent from its level four weeks ago.
While the recent decline in spam has fueled hope that they will stay at these levels, Krebs notes that this is not a permanent situation. "I happen to agree with most experts who have said they expect spam volumes to at some point bounce back or even exceed previous levels," wrote Krebs in his latest blog post. "Still, it is nice to see this drop in junk e-mail largely persist for so long."
Business security services provider MessageLabs (http://www.messagelabs.com) has already found spam levels dramatically rising, returning to two-thirds of what they were before the McColo takedown.MessageLabs senior anti-spam technologist Matt Sergeant said the delay between the initial decline and the subsequent rise is because of the time it took for the botnet owners to find a new ISP and bandwidth provider, however, some botnets have failed to successfully make the transition.
"The Asprox and Rustock botnets are back with a vengeance after having found new command and control," Sergeant said in a statement. "Cutwail never went away and it seems its owners have used the opportunity to increase output. Mega-D is also on the rise again. Srizbi, having once been responsible for 50 percent of all spam, is now completely defunct. Without this botnet, spam levels won't return to what they had been."
After staking out McColo (mccolo.com) for the past four months, the Washington Post's Security Fix blog found that the San Jose host was likely hosting "some of the most disreputable cyber-criminal gangs in business today," including child pornography, anti-virus scams and malicious software, which has stolen banking and credit card information from more than half a million people. Security Fix blogger Brian Krebs informed two of its upstream Internet providers, which subsequently ceased their service to McColo.
Since effectively blowing the whistle on McColo, Krebs has found spam levels have been remaining low. Citing email security firm IronPort's (http://www.ironport.com) reports that it blocked around 35 billion junk emails Monday, down from weeks ago when it would have typically flagged roughly 160 billion messages daily. He also noted that Spamcop.net's reports show spam volumes "well below half" the levels reported before McColo was taken down.
Backing up the notion that spam levels will be lower in the short-term, managed security services provider MX Logic's (http://www.mxlogic.com) November Threat Forecast and Report, this year's holiday season may have significantly lower spam levels.
The report notes that a typical spam cycle includes levels beginning to rise in April or May, then surging to their highest levels in November and December as the holiday season approaches. For instance, last year, MX Logic accurately predicted a 50 percent November and December spam increase.
Spam levels, however, may not follow their traditional patterns in 2008, according to the report, which noted recent news about spam network shutdowns will have an effect on the volume of spam messages, even though "spam remains too lucrative to assume that this trend will continue through the holidays," the report stated.
While unwanted spam may be in decline, MX Logic expects an unprecedented increase in unwanted "opt-in" emails from retailers and other e-commerce sites this holiday season. "Think twice before handing out your e-mail address this holiday season," the report warns. Considered legitimate messages requested by the recipient, Opt-in e-mails flow freely to the inbox, bypassing spam filters. There are often very few, if any, restrictions or limitations on the frequency of e-mails that vendors can send to those who opt-in to receive messages.
The WHIR reported earlier this week that the Retail Email Blog (http://www.retailemailblog.com) has issued its Retail Email Index, which also reports a rise in email marketing activity among US retailers. With still five weeks until Christmas, the Retail Email Blog has found an 11 percent increase marketing emails in the week ending November 21 compared with the previous week, while increasing by 19 percent from its level four weeks ago.
While the recent decline in spam has fueled hope that they will stay at these levels, Krebs notes that this is not a permanent situation. "I happen to agree with most experts who have said they expect spam volumes to at some point bounce back or even exceed previous levels," wrote Krebs in his latest blog post. "Still, it is nice to see this drop in junk e-mail largely persist for so long."
Business security services provider MessageLabs (http://www.messagelabs.com) has already found spam levels dramatically rising, returning to two-thirds of what they were before the McColo takedown.MessageLabs senior anti-spam technologist Matt Sergeant said the delay between the initial decline and the subsequent rise is because of the time it took for the botnet owners to find a new ISP and bandwidth provider, however, some botnets have failed to successfully make the transition.
"The Asprox and Rustock botnets are back with a vengeance after having found new command and control," Sergeant said in a statement. "Cutwail never went away and it seems its owners have used the opportunity to increase output. Mega-D is also on the rise again. Srizbi, having once been responsible for 50 percent of all spam, is now completely defunct. Without this botnet, spam levels won't return to what they had been."
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Company: Mccolo
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