Have cybercreeps gone vegetarian on us? The sudden drop in spam!

According to analysis provided by John E. Dunn in an article published by TechWorld, spam volumes appear to have peaked in the late summer of 2010 and then began falling.  Eric Park, in a post on Symantec's site reported the same analysis.

For example, M86 Security found that their spam measures dropped dramatically in late 2010, even with the typical high-volume period around year end and holidays.

Of course, Mega-D was caught and that outfit was a big spewer of spam.  That outfit was taken offline long enough ago that security experts do not think this can account for the drop.

So, have the cybercreeps gone good or given up "spam" for a more vegetarian diet?  The security community does not think so.  It is very likely that cybercreeps have turned their evil talents towards targeting you via social networking and mobile phones.

Case in point, Websense reported that Facebook and Twitter had an uptick in spam posts.

What can you do if your friend or colleague has a very interesting post but you are worried about clicking on the link?  One option is to go to Norton's Safe Web and type in the URL or shortened link to test it first. It's an extra step but might be worth it if the spam via email continues to drop but spam via your smart phone messages, Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites rises!


Sources:

"Spam and Phishing Landscape:  December 2010", Eric Park, Symantec, December 16, 2010.

"Sudden Spam Drop Leaves Experts Baffled", John E Dunn, TechWorld, January 4, 2011.