Spam trends for 2011?

So what are the trends for spam? The fact is, there are a number of positive trends; which is pleasing. For example, the total numbers of spam have fallen slightly over the first six months of 2011. The main reason for this is that more and more countries and ISPs (Internet Service Providers) and users in former growth countries are starting to understand the importance of sufficient protection and better spam filters. China is the most obvious example where the authorities have gone out and warned ISPs that they risk losing their licences if they don't sort out the problem of spam and viruses. The China method has undeniably given outstanding effects in a short time, and the country has beaten some kind of world record, from being the most prolific spammer country to now coming in behind countries with considerably lower numbers of computer users, such as Poland, the United Kingdom, Romania, Colombia, Vietnam and Korea.

The global spam volume remained fairly even over the first six months of 2011, with a small reduction over the second quarter. A number of major botnets (there's more information below on what a botnet is) were traced and shut down in 2010, and March 2011 saw the shutdown of parts of an unusually aggressive botnet by the name of Rustock. This, together with the ISPs being more alert, is thought to be a contributory factor in the overall reduction in spam which we are now seeing over the first half of 2011.

In mid-2010, the FBI arrested a 23 year old male from Slovenia who was held responsible for malware which is estimated to have linked together 12 million computers to make a botnet. Conficker is another extremely extensive botnet with...

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