92.6%…

According to the security group Postini, that is the amount of email that shows up in people’s inboxes on average.

73%…

This is the increase of spam volume in the past three months.

Unfortunately, in the game of spam, it seems as if the bad guys are winning, for they continuously are developing new techniques to get their junk to evade our spam filters. Let’s just hope this will change in the upcoming year.

The tussle between computer security companies trying to protect your PC and the bad guys that try to compromise it is often characterised as an arms race.

Sometimes the security companies have the upper hand as they develop and deploy novel techniques to spot and stop malicious software of all stripes.

And sometimes, such as in 2006, the bad guys are on top. And nowhere has this been more apparent than in the realm of that old favourite - spam.

In the closing months of 2006 spam volumes jumped enormously. According to e-mail filtering firm Postini, spam volumes increased by 73% in the three months to December.

“92.6% of all e-mail messages are spam,” said Dan Druker, spokesman for Postini. “That’s the highest it’s ever been.”

Other e-mail security specialists have not reported such big leaps in junk mail volumes, but all say that they are seeing more spam than ever before.

Jump in junk

The type of spam being sent has also changed, said Mr Druker. In 2004 only a small percentage of junk mail messages had images in them. Now, said Mr Druker, the figure is 25%. [more]

Tags: Spam