My spam analysis and threat assessment for 1/16-1/22, 2012
After surging around January 1, my level of spam has shown signs of decreasing. It has dropped 2% from last week, making spam 38% of my total incoming email, from January 16 through 22, 2012.
In addition to the percentage drop, there was also a large drop in the actual number of messages classified as spam. In fact, I saw about 50% fewer spam email messages this week as compared to the previous week.
The email threats this week were mostly BBB Fraud, with links to fake complaint reports, which redirected to malware servers. There were also several miscellaneous scams with fake query strings appended to .htm files. These links lead to compromised websites and redirected to the Russian Blackhole Exploit Kit. People with JavaScript enabled and out-dated versions of the Java Virtual Machine installed would be exploited silently. Their PCs would become members of a botnet and begin spewing out spam and DDoS attacks. Some of these exploits also install bank account stealing Trojans.
The following is my analysis of spam for the week of January 16, through 22, 2012.
These spam statistics are derived from MailWasher Pro, which is a POP3 email screening program that runs on a Windows desktop. It intercepts all incoming email and analyzes it, based upon several factors, the most prominent of which are my own custom spam filters.
Overview
Total incoming email from January 16 through 22 (about 4 PM EDT): 361
Good mail: 261
Classified as spam: 100
Percentage rated spam: ~38%
Breakdown by category of spam
Casino spam: 17%
Pharmaceuticals spam: 13%
Cialis: 12%
Malware link with fake query strings appended: 10%
Replica Watches: 9%
Fake diplomas: 8%
Work at home scams:7%
Blacklisted (my blacklist): 6%
Learning filter classed as Spam: 5%
Russian Bride scams: 5%
Nigerian 419 scams: 3%
Russian or Ukrainian spam domain links: 1%
Male Enhancement scams: 1.%
Miscellaneous other filters: 3%
I made the following additions or updates to my custom MailWasher filters
BBB Fraud,
Casino Spam,
Loans Spam,
Work At Home Scam #1
The following wildcard email address was added to my MailWasher Blacklist:
None added this week
I publish filters for both the old and new versions of MailWasher Pro. However, the new version allows for more lines of conditions than the previous ones. If you use a desktop application to send and receive POP3 email, MailWasher can act as a spam filter before you download email to your email client. You can learn more about the program, download a trial version, or purchase a subscription, at the MailWasher Pro website.
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