Spambusters: War on unsolicited email
Although it lacks the headline impact of the various forms of nakedly malicious cyber crime such as hacking, phishing, identity theft, worms, viruses and denial of service attacks, spam is fast changing its status from that of on-line nuisance to major global menace.
Figures for the corporate costs of dealing with the consequences of spam - defined by the UK-headquartered anti-spam organisation The Spamhaus Project as 'unsolicited bulk e-mail' - vary quite widely but an estimate of US$50 billion in 2005 (excluding opportunity costs, from Ferris Research) and a projection of US$198 billion next year (from The Radicati Group) are often quoted. With these levels of waste it's small wonder that the war against spammers is about to be prosecuted much more savagely.
