Half of spam is from Asian computers - Sophos

Half of all spam email was relayed via computers in Asia in the third quarter of 2011, according to a new study by computer security firm Sophos. Sophos said that while the United States was the "single worst offender," Asian nations had "significantly higher" amounts of spam than in the third quarter of 2010. "The percentage of spam coming from Asia has increased, with over half of all spam messages now being relayed via the continent," it said in a blog post. It said the top 12 spam relaying continents from July to September 2011 were:

1. Asia, 50.1 percent
2. Europe, 21.4 percent
3. North America, 14.2 percent
4. South America, 10.6 percent
5. Africa, 3.0 percent
6. Other, 0.7 percent

Sophos noted that in the third quarter of 2010, Asia was responsible for 30 percent of all spam, and 35.1 percent at the beginning of 2011. On the other hand, the individual "offenders" included:

1. United States, 11.3 percent
2. South Korea, 9.6 percent
3. India, 8.8 percent
4. Russia, 7.9 percent
5. Brazil, 5.7 percent
6. Taiwan, 3.8 percent
7. Vietnam, 3.5 percent
8. Indonesia, 3.3 percent
9. Ukraine, 3.1 percent
10. Romania, 2.8 percent
11. Pakistan, 2.0 percent
12. Italy, 1.9
13. Others, 36.3 percent.

Sophos said South Korea jumped five notches to place second to the US, while Indonesia, Pakistan, Taiwan and Vietnam had joined the "Dirty Dozen" since the third quarter of 2010. 'Improving' standing Sophos said majority of spam emails are distributed by botnets, or networks of infected machines (zombies) which are under the control of spammers. It added computer users risk becoming part of botnets if they do not run up-to-date anti-virus software and the latest security patches. "Typical methods of infection include clicking on links or attachments in spam messages. The problem is not limited to traditional email, social networking services are also exploited by fraudsters to spread money-making surveys via spammed-out messages," it said. Also, cybercriminals use botnets to launch Distributed Denial of Service attacks (DDoS) to force a site offline as it struggles to cope with the increase in traffic. Sophos advised computer users not to be tempted to buy anything via spam, "as that's what makes it worthwhile for the spammers." — TJD, GMA News