Why so much Spam? Because People Respond to it.

Tags

spam

I was amazed when the percentage of email that’s received by the organization where I work exceeded 50% a few years back. Today the number is over 90%. What a waste!

I have always wondered “why?”, and obviously the conclusion was that it generates more revenue for the spammers than it costs. But I guessed that less than 1% of the email users who get spammed responded to it. I was wrong. According to this article,  12% of those who read spam respond to it. I have no way of knowing if this is true, but even if they’re off by an order of magnitude and 1.2% respond then I have been way overestimating my fellow email users.

Why, in a rational world, does spam continue to exist? Because someone you know—or maybe it’s you—has actually tried to buy something from it, a new study finds. Find that person and beat him (or yourself) with a stapler.

It says that 12% have responded to spam because they were “interested in product/service.”

Major Spam Sender Shut Down

Tags

malware, spam

Hosting firm shutdown forces botnets to relocate via kwout

A significant source of malware was shut down. It is said to have sent out up to 75% of all the spam emails in addition to controlling several botnets.

Unfortunately, the criminals responsible for this server will likely set up shop again elsewhere.