Russia replaces the USA as world's top spammer 
(02/12/2010)
According to Kaspersky Lab's monthly report on global spam activity, for the first time in recent years, the USA has dropped out of the top ten sources of spam, finishing October in 18th place. Russia has now pushed the USA from pole position in the global spam distribution list.
The dramatic reduction in spam traffic originating from the USA was caused by the closure of the Pushdo/Cutwail and Bredolab botnet command centres, both of which made use of networks of zombie computers that were primarily located in the USA.
Despite the closure of the above programmes, spammers wasted no time in immediately searching for other ways to make money in the run-up to the festive season. “It’s very likely that near the end of the year, spammers will turn to Christmas-related mailings,” said Maria Namestnikova, senior spam analyst at Kaspersky Lab.
The report also showed that PayPal once again had the unenviable distinction of being targeted most by phishers, accounting for one third of all attacks. Spammers showed a renewed interest in Facebook after a lull in September, with the social networking site taking over second place in the phishing list from eBay. The other two most popular targets for phishing attacks were HSBC and Blizzard Entertainment, the World of Warcraft developer.
Related topics: Internet and Web security Virus, Worm, Email security, spyware and malware
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