US TO BLAME FOR ONE IN SIX SPAM EMAILS, SAYS SOPHOS

KUALA LUMPUR, July 21 (Bernama) -- The United States continued to relay more
spam emails than any other country during the second quarter of 2009, according
to security software provider Sophos.

The firm estimated the US contributed 15.6 percent to the global spam
traffic, meaning that more than one in six junk emails were sent through
compromised computers in the country.

In contrast, Russia, a former spam superpower, continued to fall down the
ranks, Sophos said in a statement released here Tuesday.

Russia currently resides at ninth position in the chart, relaying 3.2
percent of spam messages, it said.

This represented a significant reduction compared to the same time last year
when the country came second only to the US and was responsible for relaying 7.5
percent of all spam emails, it added.

Sophos said Poland has seen the biggest single increase in spam output since
the last quarter, moving up from 10th to sixth place with the country now
responsible for relaying 4.2 percent of all the world's electronic junk
messages.

Colombia is the only nation to have left the top 12 list since first quarter
2009, with Vietnam a new entry this quarter.

The top 12 countries responsible for relaying spam across the globe between
April and June 2009 are the US (15.6 percent), Brazil (11.1 percent), Turkey
(5.2 percent), India (5.0 percent), South Korea (4.7 percent), Poland (4.2
percent), China, including Hong Kong (4.1 percent), Spain (3.4 percent), Russia
(3.2 percent), Italy (2.8 percent), Argentina (2.5 percent), and Vietnam (2.3
percent).

"If America could clean up its compromised PCs (personal computers), it
would be a considerable benefit to everyone around the world who uses the Net,"
said Sophos' senior technology consultant Graham Cluley.

"All Web users need to properly defend their computers from attack, and
pledge to never act upon spam messages," he said.

As social networking and related online services continued to grow in
popularity, Sophos experts noted that poorly protected computer users could
become more vulnerable to a wider range of spam attacks.

Almost a third of spam messages originated in Asia for the second
quarter of 2009, with the nations of South Korea and China being the biggest
contributors, said Sophos.

Others in the top list included Europe with 27.1 percent, South America
19.4 percent, and North America 18.8 percent, it said.

Sophos advised companies to automatically update their corporate virus
protection, and run a consolidated solution at their email and web gateways to
defend against viruses and spam.
-- BERNAMA