Russia and China the new Spam Superpowers

[Tech Manager]

I made an outlandish statement more than a year ago. I said Russia is one of the most prolific countries at spewing out spam, malware and other serious threats to the sanity of the internet. SOPHOS has now confirmed what I already knew. SOPHOS, a leading security firm has just published its latest report on the twelve worst spamming countries in the world: Russia emerges as spam superpower, as Asia and Europe overtake North America.

Even more compelling than Russia’s rapid rise to infamy, is the fact that North America, the previous spam king, has fallen to number three in the spam spewing global community. Asia takes the top spot, followed closely by Europe.

View the country spam comparisons and Read the rest of my article here.

[Tech Manager]

The United States has more computers and networks than any other country, but per capita sends out less spam than most.

[kgun]

Originally Posted by Tech Manager

The United States has more computers and networks than any other country, but per capita sends out less spam than most.

Sorry to say: But my experience is worst with your country. On my forum that is no longer publically available other countries were much worse.

What would you prefer:

Fortune:

1. 1000 000 000 000 USD 2 % inflation and tax adjusted increase?
2. 1 USD 20 % inflation and tax adjusted increase?

Message:
Pencentage comparisons can be very "misleading", especially if you do not know the base.

Per capita spam relatively less in some countries, can simply mean that the technological level is higher in some countries. They simply know that a lot of attacks are outdated.

Conclusion:
Spurious correlation, that has to be adjusted for some variables to be significant.

[Tech Manager]

I understand and appreciate your position (as always), but I am inclined to believe you are comparing apples to oranges.

Individual experiences with spammers are going to vary, thus the need for collective data.

The one aspect that needs to be more closely looked at is not just where spam originates but where spam is heading. I would suspect that Norway gets more spam from outside of Norway than internally. Many cyber-spam gangs stay out of the reach of the law by committing their crimes outside their respective countries.

But back to the matter at hand, the per capita volume of global spam is much higher coming from Russia and China than it is from the United States. The per capita volume of spam is much higher for Europe and Asia than it is for North America. Period. This is the current trend.

We can argue tax increases, the prices of oil per liter versus per gallon or the price of beer in Germany compared to that of New Zealand, but the comparisons are not relative to the discussion.

Among the several networks/servers I manage, the spam volume is highest from Russia, China, Turkey and several other countries. More important than the volume of spam is the volume of spam compared to legitimate email originating from the same countries.

On my networks, emails originating from Russia are 99.9% spam. The same is true of China and Turkey. Emails originating from the USA are less than 11% spam. These are highly telling statistics. If I get 100,000 emails from Russia and 99,900 of them are spam it is a bigger problem than getting 900,000 emails from the USA and having 99,000 of them be spam.

Spam, trojans, virii, malware, cross-site scripting, hacking, cracking and all the other security problems that exist on the web need to be dealt with in a thoughtful manner. Accepting and dealing with the data is a good start.

[kgun]

Originally Posted by Tech Manager

Individual experiences with spammers are going to vary, thus the need for collective data.

Agree to that, and it should be subject to serious statistical analysis. This is part of my profession.

Originally Posted by Tech Manager

The one aspect that needs to be more closely looked at is not just where spam originates but where spam is heading. I would suspect that Norway gets more spam from outside of Norway than internally. Many cyber-spam gangs stay out of the reach of the law by committing their crimes outside their respective countries.

Idenity theft, spam etc. to the Scandinavian countries are a less problem for us. There is one advantage in our language.

Originally Posted by Tech Manager

But back to the matter at hand, the per capita volume of global spam is much higher coming from Russia and China than it is from the United States. The per capita volume of spam is much higher for Europe and Asia than it is for North America. Period. This is the current trend.

I still mean that that is an unscientific conclusion. And spam, fraud should be broken down on categories. You can filter out 99.9 % spam by using a "100 %" filter on a free Hotmail account. Hotmail is the best free major email service I know of. You get rid of much spam to another email account by forwarding your email to Hotmail for a while. I think Microsoft has and regularily updates a spam database related to Hotmail. Assume that you easily filter out naiive spam. What about more advanced spam and attacks? Breaking down on categories is important.

Another free, Gmail, has a relatively good filter. No need to look at the emails that ends up in the spam folder.

Originally Posted by Tech Manager

We can argue tax increases, the prices of oil per liter versus per gallon or the price of beer in Germany compared to that of New Zealand, but the comparisons are not relative to the discussion.

That was not my message. My message was that % (relative) comparisons can be misleading in lack of additional information.

Originally Posted by Tech Manager

Among the several networks/servers I manage, the spam volume is highest from Russia, China, Turkey and several other countries. More important than the volume of spam is the volume of spam compared to legitimate email originating from the same countries.

On my networks, emails originating from Russia are 99.9% spam. The same is true of China and Turkey. Emails originating from the USA are less than 11% spam. These are highly telling statistics. If I get 100,000 emails from Russia and 99,900 of them are spam it is a bigger problem than getting 900,000 emails from the USA and having 99,000 of them be spam.

Spam, trojans, virii, malware, cross-site scripting, hacking, cracking and all the other security problems that exist on the web need to be dealt with in a thoughtful manner. Accepting and dealing with the data is a good start.

That is why it may be profitable to establish a customer extranet for one (sub)site.

[Tech Manager]

kgun:

I agree with much of what you said. In reality statistics can be used to mislead and redirect conclusions.

Cyber-crime, and I include spam, is a worsening problem and grows exponentially each day. We need solutions.

I have a few ideas. What are yours?

[kgun]

More strictly moderated extranets. Use time to allow a client to enter your extranet. In addition, paid membership will filter out 90 % of the problem.

From my posts, you should also know what I mean about different browsers.

Take the following with a grain of salt.
Let the amateurs sit there and discuss and spam each other.

I sit in glass house. A lot of good programmers will say that I am an amateur, and compared to many, I am.

I have seen XP OOP programmers in action.

[Tech Manager]

The problem is not with the people who know how to protect themseleves. It is with the vast majority who don't. As I don't think there will ever be a requirement to pass a test and get a license to go online, the vast internet community needs some assistance with security.

[kgun]

Originally Posted by Tech Manager

kgun:
I agree with much of what you said. In reality statistics can be used to mislead and redirect conclusions.

Cyber-crime, and I include spam, is a worsening problem and grows exponentially each day. We need solutions.

I have a few ideas. What are yours?

My bolding.

What are your ideas?

[Tech Manager]

Let's start with two.

First, the standards for smtp need to be improved and strengthened.

Second, ISP's need to take a more proactive network in protecting against malicious traffic; this includes incoming and outgoing. If the ISP's actred appropriatedly and stopped routing traffic from known cyber-gangs, much of the current malcious traffic on the web would disappear.

[crankydave]

Just as a thought to throw in the mix here...

Start holding the companies who are providing the "affilliate" programs that are getting spammed responsible or to a higher standard. Go towards the "head of the beast" and not the "tail".

Dave

[Tech Manager]

Originally Posted by crankydave

Just as a thought to throw in the mix here...

Start holding the companies who are providing the "affilliate" programs that are getting spammed responsible or to a higher standard. Go towards the "head of the beast" and not the "tail".

Dave

Dave:

Good thought. Can you provide an example?

[kgun]

If you have time, read this

Is there a packet sniffer out there that bores him/her self?

thread.

Nobody answered my last post in that thread. Now, I have changed the password and deleted a lot of banners.

My best experinece with affiliate providere in alphabetical order:

1. Commision Junction.
2. Elliott Wave international.
3. Google AdSense.
4. Linkshare.
5. Tradedoubler.

[Tech Manager]

Originally Posted by kgun

If you have time, read this

Is there a packet sniffer out there that bores him/her self?

thread.

Nobody answered my last post in that thread. Now, I have changed the password and deleted a lot of banners.

My best experinece with affiliate providere in alphabetical order:

1. Commision Junction.
2. Elliott Wave international.
3. Google AdSense.
4. Linkshare.
5. Tradedoubler.

kgun:

I'm not sure of the relevance. Did you mean to post in this thread?

[crankydave]

Originally Posted by Tech Manager

Dave:

Good thought. Can you provide an example?

Pick any companies providing "affilliate" programs for their "enlargement" pills or any other "drug" you can name. Follow the money up the ladder. When you get to the top, start holding them responsible for the spam being sent out by an "affiliate" on their behalf.

Start cutting off the money flow from the top. Going after the individual spammers as a group isn't going to take the money out of it. Heavy fines, penalties, etc. levied on the actual companies towards the top of the food chain can have a dramatic affect.

Let's face it. Spammers are in it for the money. Follow the money to the root of the problem.

Dave

[Tech Manager]

Originally Posted by crankydave

Pick any companies providing "affilliate" programs for their "enlargement" pills or any other "drug" you can name. Follow the money up the ladder. When you get to the top, start holding them responsible for the spam being sent out by an "affiliate" on their behalf.

Start cutting off the money flow from the top. Going after the individual spammers as a group isn't going to take the money out of it. Heavy fines, penalties, etc. levied on the actual companies towards the top of the food chain can have a dramatic affect.

Dave

You bring up a good point. Follow the money.

[kgun]

Originally Posted by crankydave

Just as a thought to throw in the mix here...

Start holding the companies who are providing the "affilliate" programs that are getting spammed responsible or to a higher standard. Go towards the "head of the beast" and not the "tail".

Dave

Originally Posted by Tech Manager