Spam levels rise again

Valentine's Day responsible for large amounts of malware

Spam levels increased in February

For the fifth consecutive month spam levels have increased with 77.8 per cent of all emails sent in February being junk mail.

The increase has been linked to the predictable focus on Valentine’s Day-related messages. February also saw a hike in seasonal hijacking threats, including the 'For My Valentine' malware with attachments such as 'Greetings Card.exe', according to vendor MessageLabs.

'While it is routine to see the bad guys use seasonal tactics to exploit unsuspecting targets, the recent rise in Valentine’s Day specific malware proves it is still effective,' said Mark Sunner, chief security analyst, MessageLabs.

'Although it is commendable that global law enforcement agencies are attempting to address the spam and botnet issue, we are likely to see the spammers continuing to innovate both in terms of targeting and with new techniques to reach the end user.'

There has also been a in newly created malware with 43.9 per cent of all malware intercepted in February being of new varieties, indicating new efforts from malware authors and perhaps new malware distributors entering the market.

New US legislation, the Undertaking Spam, Spyware, and Fraud Enforcement with Enforcers beyond Borders Act’ (SafeWeb), will see increased cooperation between international law enforcement agencies, including the London Action Plan, an International spam enforcement network.

The new act enables agencies to share information in the fight against international spam and online threats. Consequently, February also saw the first criminal conviction for virus writing in China, where eight men were arrested for creating the W32/Fujacks virus, designed to obtain online gaming information.

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