Spammers cash in on financial crisis

The economic crisis has emerged as a key theme for spammers and fraudsters in the first quarter of 2009 as the financial gloom continues to be a favourite topic. As credit becomes harder to secure through traditional means, the economic woes have provided an uncertain climate for consumers making them a prime target for spammers, fraudsters and phishers hoping to cash in, according to MessageLabs Intelligence, an anti-virus company, part of Symantec. MessageLabs Intelligence also noted an increase in genuine emails being sent by cash-strapped individuals who have turned to email as a means of seeking charitable assistance, support or guidance from some businesses. These messages are small in volume in comparison with the wider volume of spam and phishing emails, but seem to be equally liable to provoke an inflamed response from many recipients who believe they are fakes. Such a scenario led to an increase in malicious content or other potentially harmful content by 197.2 per cent in March, its highest level since October 2008. Spam levels for the first quarter of 2009 averaged 74.5 per cent compared with 72.4 per cent for fourth quarter of 2008. Spam rose to 75.7 per cent in March (an increase of 2.4 per cent since February) while one in 281.4 emails in March contained malware (an increase of 0.03 per cent since February) and one in 284.6 emails comprised a phishing attack (a decrease of 0.17 per cent since February). Malicious links sent through email and hosted on infected or compromised websites, typically through SQL injection attacks, represent a growing area of risk for businesses in 2009. Many such drive-by attacks are designed to steal personal data and confidential information simply when users visit an infected site. Additionally, in March, 20.3 per cent of email-borne malware contained links to malicious sites, a 16.5 per cent increase since February. Spoofed postcard mails were responsible for 14 per cent of malicious links in emails during March. More than 2,795 new malicious websites were blocked per day (an increase of 197.2 per cent since February) with indications that increased threat was from web borne malware. The month of March also saw the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Melissa virus, popular festival St Patrick's Day and Mother's Day, and March Madness of football was also a lot in the limelight. The UK Government was a favourite as they were planning to introduce a surcharge of 50 pounds GBP for migrant workers on visas. Valid email recipients were targeted by unknown bad sources increasing the global ratio of spam in March, which was 1 in 1.32 emails. Spam levels across the globe had interesting figures with Hong Kong rising 25.9 per cent in March, positioning it as the most spammed country with levels of 88.7 per cent of all emails. Spam levels in the US rose to 78.4 per cent in March, 76.3 per cent in Canada and 68.4 per cent in the UK. Germany's spam rate reached 69.9 per cent and 68.8 per cent in the Netherlands. Spam levels in Australia were 86.4 per cent, 88.4 per cent in China and 85.9 per cent in Japan. In March, the most spammed sector was the Engineering with 83.3 per cent. Spam levels reached 76.5 per cent for the education sector, and 73.2 per cent for the chemical and pharmaceutical sector; 81.9 per cent for retail, 70 per cent for public sector and 58.9 per cent for finance. Spam is also getting globalised as Brazil, Russia, India and China are among the biggest emerging broadband markets worldwide and as such offer a tremendous opportunity for cybercrime. MessageLabs experts predict that in 2009 the emerging markets will be more heavily targeted with spam delivered in the local language. Growth in foreign language spam, especially Asian character spam, will increase by 100 per cent from current levels at 5 per cent to around 10 per cent. Keep up with the latest business news from the region with the Emirates Business 24|7 daily newsletter. To subscribe to the newsletter, please click here .