Asia-based computers spread half world's spam
In cybercrime's mug sheet of top offenders, the "Dirty Dozen" of nations responsible for relaying spam now includes five Asian nations, including South Korea, which had the biggest increase to become second only to the U.S.
As compiled by senior technology consultant Graham Cluley for Sophos' Naked Security blog, the list shows how Indonesia, Pakistan, Taiwan and Vietnam have stepped into notoriety since the fall of 2010.
Sophos' latest research reveals that even as the U.S. remains the single worst offender with 11.3 percent, Asian nations now contribute "more than half of all spam messages now being relayed via the continent" at 50.1 percent. Just a year ago, Asia was responsible for less than a third of that global figure (30 percent) and at the beginning of the year, it was only 35.1 percent. South Korea leap-frogged five places to come in second to the U.S., contributing 9.6 percent of all global spam emails. India dropped to third place with 8.8 percent.