US is the world’s top SPAM producer

The US has topped the list of the Sophos ”dirty dozen” of spam relaying countries. 

Staff at SophosLabs scanned all of the spam messages received in the company’s global network of spam traps and have revealed that yet again, the US relayed considerably more spam than other nations, producing just less than one-fifth, 19.8%, of the world’s spam.

“Although the U.S. continues its reign over the dirty dozen, it has reduced its output in the past 12 months,” said Ron O’Brien, senior security analyst at Boston-based Sophos.

“It’s likely that computer users in the U.S. are growing wiser and securing their computers more thoroughly.”

Surprisingly however, Sophos noted the unexpected ascendancy of Poland in the dirty dozen, with the country now lying in third place, as well as a first-time appearance for India in the chart.

Between January and March 2006, Poland was responsible for just 3.8% of spam-relaying, almost half of its current percentage. Poland crashed the dirty dozen this year, taking the 3rd slot. The fact that its population, and undoubtedly its number of computers, is much lower than the likes of Russia, India, China and the US suggests that Polish users need to take a
close look at the security holes on their computers.

The UK, which was in 10th place during Q1 2006, has moved out of the dirty dozen to 13th place, accounting for 2.2% of all spam relayed.

According to Sophos, the overall volume of spam increased about 4.2% during Q1 2007, when compared to the same period in 2006.

The top 12 spam relaying countries are as follows:

January to March 2007

1. United States                  19.8%
2. China (inc Hong Kong)     7.5%
3. Poland                             7.4%
4. South Korea                    7.0%
5. Italy                                 5.0%
6. France                             4.1%
7. Germany                          3.7%
8. Spain                               3.5%
9. Brazil                               3.1%
10. Russia                              3.0%
11. India                                2.8%
12. Taiwan                             2.5%
13. Other                               30.6%

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