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Posted: Tue, July 1, 2008
Email spam morphs in first half of 2008Email spam went through and important change in terms of content and distribution medium during the first half of 2008, according to BitDefender, a leading provider of antivirus software and data security solutions. BitDefender has found that from January through June 2008, last year's highly advertised stock spam dropped from 25 percent to just 2 percent, while the formerly intrusive image spam continued its descending trend. In terms of media and techniques, the most notable trend the analysts uncovered concerns the revival of the text-based spam which reached 70 percent this year, compared to 20 percent for the same period of 2007. Image spam continued its decline and dropped to 3 percent, compared to 60 percent last year. "Plain text continues to be the most prolific medium for e-mail spam distribution, especially due to its simplicity, reduced size and extreme versatility." said Andra Miloiu, BitDefender Spam Analyst. Text-based spam still appeals to automated scripts for word scrambling, rephrasing or substitution, while image spam usually deploys obfuscated content. Other types of spam, such as e-mails bearing PDF attachments, audio and video files, etc., decreased in popularity, accounting for 10-15 percent of e-threats. In the first half of 2008, e-mail spam's content lost its emphasis on stock options, while spam media changes - dominated in the last half of 2007 by various formats of image and audio stock spam - reverted back to non-obfuscated and identical text-based message templates. The top 10 list for the first half of 2008's most advocated content through e-mail spam includes drugs, replica watches, tools for phishing, pirated software, pornography, and diplomas. Phishing trends for the first half of 2008 indicate a variation and growth of the spoofed banks and targeted clients. Primarily, forged elements belong to the US financial organisations, while the possible victims are now native English speakers who reside in the US, UK or Canada, although last weeks BitDefender's researchers received several notifications about ongoing attacks from Spain, Italy and France. Most arguments invoked in the illegitimate e-mails are still negative, such as account blocking or expiration and account details update for security reasons. The top 10 list of counterfeit business identities in the first half of 2008 includes eBay, Paypal and NatWest Bank. "Spammers and phishers continue to improve their skills in replicating and forging legitimate message characteristics. However, the simple text e-mails proved their efficiency as well, rounding up the total figure of ID theft victims to 50,000 each month," said Vlad Vālceanu, Head of BitDefender Antispam Research Lab. For more information on this survey, visit www.bitdefender.com/site/VirusInfo. |
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