My Spam analysis for May 11 - 17, 2009
This is the latest entry in my weekly series about classifications of spam, according to my custom filter rules used by MailWasher Pro. The categories are shown on the "Statistics" page > "Junk Mail," as a pie chart, based on my custom filters and blacklist. The amount of email flagged as spam is shown on the "Summary" page of Statistics.
I am still seeing a greatly reduced amount of spam, possibly due to me being white-listed by spammers, trying to avoid my honeypots, or because of troubles spammers might be having controlling their Botnets. Nonetheless, the types of spam I am getting are most likely the same types you are getting, just in a different quantity. The classifications can help you adjust your email filters according to what is most common, on a weekly basis. Much of the spam this week was for the offshore knockoff pharmaceuticals, like Viagra, bogus weight loss remedies and male enhancement scams. Other classifications, like Blocked Countries, usually include counterfeit drug promotions, sometimes in embedded images, or in vertical text and html tricks.
See my extended comments for this week's breakdown of spam by category, for May 11 - 17, 2009 and the latest additions to my custom MailWasher Pro filters.
MailWasher Pro spam category breakdown for May 11 - 17, 2009. Spam amounted to 10% of my incoming email this week. This represents a 5% decrease from last week.
Viagra spam: | 21.43% |
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Blacklisted Domains/Senders (e.g: kef+diz@+): | 21.43% |
Blocked Countries, RIPE, LACNIC, APNIC: | 14.29% |
Other filters: (See my MWP Filters page) | 7.14% |
Male Enhancement Patches, etc: | 7.14% |
Zip, RAR, or GZ Hostile Attachment: | 7.14% |
Weight Loss Scams | 7.14% |
Misc. Pharmaceutical spam (inc. Viagra, Cialis, Levitra & misc. pills & herbals): | 7.14% |
Known spam user agents: | 7.14% |
The latest additions to my custom MailWasher Pro filters include the Image Spam 11, Male Enhancement [Body], Bank Phishing, Known Spam Domains, Known Spam Subjects #3, Nigerian 419 Scams and Weight Loss Drugs filters.
MailWasher Pro intercepts POP3 and IMAP email before you download it to your desktop email client (e.g: Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Live Mail) and scans it for threats or spam content, then either manually or automatically deletes any messages matching your pre-determined criteria and custom filters. It is my primary line of defense against incoming spam, scams, phishing and exploit attacks. If you are not already using this fine anti-spam tool I invite to to read about it on my MailWasher Pro web page. You can download the latest version and try it for free for a month. Registration is only required once, for the life of the program.
To protect your computer from malware in email attachments, dangerous links to hostile web pages, JavaScript redirects, Phishing scams, or router DNS attack codes, I recommend Trend Micro Internet Security.
All of the spam and scams targeting my accounts were either automatically deleted by my custom MailWasher Pro spam filters, or if they made it through, was reported to SpamCop, of which I am a reporting member, and manually deleted. MailWasher Pro is able to forward messages marked as spam to SpamCop, which then sends a confirmation email to you, containing a link. You must click on the enclosed reporting link and open it in your browser, then manually submit your report. This is how SpamCop wants it done.
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