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Spam and Virus statistics: May 2006
03/06/06
SoftScan says that just 0.37% of emails scanned during May were
harbouring viruses; the lowest number SoftScan has ever recorded.
However, SoftScan warns that this only demonstrates a change in
tactics, not that viruses are on their way out, and that users must
still be on their guard. Spam accounted for 85.22% of all email
scanned in May.
This time last year the percentage of emails stopped as viruses was
ten times greater. In May 2004 the level was at 9%. In just two years
there has been a significant drop in viruses, which may lead to users
becoming complacent about email security. However, the threat to
individuals and organisations still remains and the consequences of
becoming infected can still be just as devastating.
“Virus writers haven’t gone away, they’ve just changed tactics. It’s
no longer about the glory of being infamous, it’s about stealing data
for financial gain and to do that successfully requires stealth,”
comments Bo Engelbrechtsen, corporate communications manager of
SoftScan.
“A scatter gun approach to spreading viruses is no longer a viable
method for most criminals – the virus becomes known to anti-virus
vendors too quickly. This results in either not enough time to process
the illegally gathered data before the user discovers a problem or
that too many zombie machines are cleaned before they can be sold to
spammers. A softly, softly approach is reaping virus writers far
better rewards,” he continues.
Top five Virus families for May are:
1 phishing: 45.36%
2 netsky: 22.11%
3 mytob: 16.81%
4 html.iframe: 3.70%
5 nyxem: 3.03%
Nick Gibson, editor
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Copyright Screen-Studio.com 2006
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