Kaspersky Lab releases "Spam evolution: January - June 2009"

Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of secure content management solutions, presents its report on the evolution of spam in the Russian segment of the Internet in the first half of 2009. The company’s analysts have identified the trends demonstrated by spam mailings in the face of the global economic crisis.

The report provides an overview of spam circulating on the Russian-language segment of the Internet, including the volume and sources of spam, the number of malicious links and attachments, the distribution of spam by category and the percentage of spam containing images.

Despite economic problems and the increasing attractiveness of the cybercriminal business, the amount of spam has not changed significantly. The proportion of phishing messages steadily declined over the six months. Russia and the US remained leaders in terms of the amount of spam sent, but gradually, other countries are coming to play a role as significant sources of spam.

The proportion of messages sent by spammers advertising their own services increased to record levels. The crisis did not affect the amount of offers from other cybercriminal groupings. At the same time, the proportion of spam messages advertising services and goods supplied by the real economy has declined significantly. “The rate at which this type of spam was being sent is an indicator of sorts for the state in which small and medium-size businesses find themselves during the crisis,” say Kaspersky Lab analysts.

The full version of the report is available on www.viruslist.com. A summary of the report can be found on the Kaspersky Lab corporate website. This material can be reproduced provided the author, company name and original source are cited. Reproduction of this material in re-written form requires the express consent of the Kaspersky Lab PR department.