Spammers now use massive networks of hijacked computers called "bot-nets" to initiate attacks. The attacks are aggressive. Spammers are also continuously evolving their tactics. Image spam and MS Office document spam now makes up as much as 30 percent of all junk messages, up from two percent in 2005. Hackers now use techniques such as re-arranging as many as 25 tiny images into a message in an HTML e-mail or using animated GIF attachments to bypass optical character recognition technology in an effort to bypass e-mail security systems. Infected computers are now also re-trying temporarily blocked e-mail connections just like real mail servers do.
Spam is Back With a Vengeance
Ninety-one percent of all e-mail is now spam
Spammers are out in full force, severely threatening corporate networks while seeking financial gain, says Postini. Postini processed nearly 70 billion e-mail connections from September to November, and saw a 59 percent spike in spam over that period. Unwanted e-mail is currently 91 percent of all e-mail, and over the past 12 months the daily volume of spam rose by 120 percent. Postini also saw a dramatic increase in overall e-mail traffic with 10 billion more connections in October than in September.
Spammers now use massive networks of hijacked computers called "bot-nets" to initiate attacks. The attacks are aggressive. Spammers are also continuously evolving their tactics. Image spam and MS Office document spam now makes up as much as 30 percent of all junk messages, up from two percent in 2005. Hackers now use techniques such as re-arranging as many as 25 tiny images into a message in an HTML e-mail or using animated GIF attachments to bypass optical character recognition technology in an effort to bypass e-mail security systems. Infected computers are now also re-trying temporarily blocked e-mail connections just like real mail servers do.
Spammers now use massive networks of hijacked computers called "bot-nets" to initiate attacks. The attacks are aggressive. Spammers are also continuously evolving their tactics. Image spam and MS Office document spam now makes up as much as 30 percent of all junk messages, up from two percent in 2005. Hackers now use techniques such as re-arranging as many as 25 tiny images into a message in an HTML e-mail or using animated GIF attachments to bypass optical character recognition technology in an effort to bypass e-mail security systems. Infected computers are now also re-trying temporarily blocked e-mail connections just like real mail servers do.
