The biggest category of spam – Medication – accounts for a quarter of all messages received in an email inbox; Pornographic emails account for 21%; and Undecipherable emails (usually taking the form of embedded images) 18%. Time appears to be up for the fake watch spam emails that flooded inboxes at the turn of the century, in its latest research, Ipswitch found that they now only account for 6% of modern spam messages.
Medication leads the way for the second quarter running. Finance/Phishing emails which accounted for most of the spam coming through at the beginning of the year is now down to fourth place and account for only 12% of current spam. Pornographic emails ascended to second position this quarter, jumping from 5% to 21% of total emails received.
1. Medication ¬– 25% – (Non Mover)
2. Pornographic – 21% – (up from 5)
3. Undecipherable – 18% – (Non Mover)
4. Gambling – 17% – (Non Mover)
5. Finance/Phishing – 12% – (down from 2)
"Spam shows no signs of going away, and continues to be a bugbear for the individual and the organisation alike. However, there are signs that a higher degree of spam is now coming from groups such as organised crime, rather than individuals out for a quick win, and this type of approach needs to be stopped before it really takes hold," warns Quocirca Ltd Service Director, Business Process Analysis Clive Longbottom.