Spam back with a vengeance
MOST internet users already know it: spam is on the rise again as senders of unwanted email find new ways to circumvent filtering systems.
A study released last month by the security firm Postini found that unwanted messages now account for 91 per cent of all email, and over the past 12 months the daily volume of spam rose by 120 per cent.
A separate report by California-based IronPort Systems concluded that worldwide spam volumes increased from 31 billion messages daily in October 2005 to 61 billion messages per day in October 2006.
Security experts cite two key reasons for the surge, which has come after a brief respite in which spam appeared to be stabilising.