Sudden spam drop leaves experts baffled

[Peaches]

January 5, 2011

Sudden spam drop leaves experts baffled

Social media could be new focus

John E Dunn, Techworld

Spam volumes appear to have dropped to averages last seen in 2008 after an expected surge in bogus email over the Christmas period failed to materialise.

According to M86 Security, its spam volume index measured using honeypot domains fell by as much as half during December when compared to the numbers for the spring and summer. None of the vendors' numbers showed the expected surge in spam over the Christmas period, traditionally a time when spammers boost their output.

As yet, no security company has come up with a reason for the fall, which is larger than the fall registered in late 2009, but still modest compared to the historic plunge that happened in late 2008 after rogue ISP McColo was shut down.

Given that no large ISPs or botnets have been shut down in the corresponding period, it could simply be a seasonal lull. It could also mark a change in tactics by spammers towards using channels other than conventional email, such as social media, to reach computer users. According to a report by Websense in November, noted a marked rise in spam on Facebook and Twitter with as much as 10 percent of status updates on the former containing spam.

Full story here: http://www.pcadvisor...wsid=3255202

[TheTerrorist_75]

That's because they now register at forums. I have banned over 60 of them in the past couple of days.

[Peaches]

I am not surprised as they are coming in droves on other forums. Out of curiosity I checked my profile here the other day and it seems my latest visitors are all spammers. I think that is a real hoot. Have you checked yours lately? However, at Circlesoffriends, they try to register and mostly fail. One or two might get through so feel we are lucky in this respect.