Most Spammed States in the U.S.

A list of the most spammed states has recently been compiled by MessageLabs. The spam capital of the U.S. is Idaho with 93.8 percent of spam, which far exceeds the global spam rate of 86.4 percent. Idaho has jumped 43 spots since 2008 when it was ranked the 44th most spammed state. The difference can be attributed to the resilient and aggressive botnet market as well as a higher volume of global spam that has ensued since the beginning of the credit crisis toward the end of 2008.

Other top spammed states include Kentucky, New Jersey, Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Maryland.

There are currently between four million and six million computers scattered across the globe that have been compromised to form the powerful botnets responsible for the majority of spam. They're used by cybercriminals to send out more than 87 percent of all unsolicited mail, equating to approximately 151 billion e-mails a day.

"Some of the high spam levels seen across the U.S. can be attributed to the economic challenges experienced globally since the end of 2008 as well as Internet advancement including the high adoption of social networking," said Paul Wood, MessageLabs intelligence senior analyst. "Spammers have taken full advantage of both the economic uncertainty of some and the trustworthiness of others for their own rewards. Automated tools, resilient botnets and targeted spam campaigns are all part of the spammers' toolkit and they are constantly evolving these techniques to outsmart any effort to stop them. No state is immune to the affects of spam."

The least spammed states the US territory of Puerto Rico, with 83.1 percent of spam. Other states with the least amount of spam included Montana, Alaska, Kansas, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Florida.