My Spam analysis for Aug 4 - 10, 2008
This is the latest entry in a series about classifications of spam, according to my custom filter rules used by the anti-spam tool, MailWasher Pro.
MailWasher Pro is a spam screening program that goes between your email servers and your desktop email client (application). It uses a variety of techniques to recognize what is and isn't spam, including a learning filter and user created custom filter rules. I personally write and use MailWasher Pro custom filters to detect and delete most incoming spam email. I have created and published a large assortment of spam filters which "plug-in" to MailWasher Pro, to flag or delete known spam. You can read about them, or download and use them in your own registered copy of MailWasher Pro.
MailWasher Pro has a "Statistics" display page that breaks down the types of spam it has deleted, listed by categories. Each program and user-created filter has a name and when a measurable percentage of spam is matched by a particular filter it shows up in the Statistics, with its percentage shown next to it. The percentages for various categories of spam listed below are taken from my MailWasher Pro "Statistics" page.
The category "Other Filters" combines several of my custom filters which did not receive enough spam to rate a measurable percentage, thus were all grouped into the one category; "Other."
The most recent social engineering email threat is a video exploit link spam that has a subject and sender containing the words "CNN Alerts: Custom Alert," which contains a link to a web page hosting a payload named "get_flash(_update).exe" - or a variation thereof. This is serious malware that has been identified as being either a "Tibs," "Zlob," or "Storm/Nuwar" Trojan variant. If you are lured to a web page containing such a link (mouse-over links to see their destination in your browser's status bar, on the bottom), and you survive the automatic attempts to exploit browser vulnerabilities, do not click on the download links offered to you! There may be a pop-up message claiming you require a video codec, or ActiveX Object to view a news story, but it is a trick to fool you into self-installing the Trojan.
MailWasher Pro spam category breakdown for August 4 - 10, 2008. Spam amounted to 45% of incoming email this week.
Loans/Bankruptcy/Insurance Scams: | 25.00% |
---|---|
Male enhancement spam (subject or body): | 16.41% |
Exploit link to Trojan download: | 15.63% |
Blacklisted Domains/Senders: (by pattern matching wildcard rules) | 10.94% |
Other filters: (See my MWP Filters page) | 9.38% |
Known Spam Subjects: | 5.47% |
Pharmaceutical spam (inc. Viagra, Cialis, Levitra & misc. pills & herbals): | 5.47% |
Known Spam Domains: | 2.34% |
Counterfeit Watches: | 2.34% |
Casino Spam: | 2.34% |
Diploma Spam: | 2.34% |
DNS Blacklists: | 2.34% |
If you are reading this and wondering what you can do to reduce the huge volumes of spam emails that must be overwhelming your POP client inboxes, I recommend MailWasher Pro (with my downloadable custom filters) as an incoming email screener for your POP email program (Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook Express, Microsoft Live Mail, Eudora, Mozilla and other stand-alone email programs).
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