Top Spam countries : USA first

Almost a quarter of the world's spam in the last three months of 2005 was sent from computers in the United States, according to U.K. antivirus company Sophos.

While the U.S. still tops the chart, the latest figures mark the first time the country accounts for less than one quarter of all spam relayed. The decline in U.S.-sourced spam is thanks in part to the crackdown against fraudulent e-mail, Sophos said. In particular, the company pointed to monetary damages that spammers have been ordered to pay as well as jail sentences, tighter legislation and improved coordination among Internet service providers.

The numbers do suggest, however, that Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates' prediction two years ago that the spam problem would be solved by now has not come true. The majority of the junk mail, 60 percent, is now being relayed by compromised PCs, called zombies, that are at the beck and call of cybercriminals, Sophos said.

The top 12 spam relaying countries, according to Sophos, are as follows:
1. United States, 24.5 percent
2. China, 22.3 percent
3. South Korea, 9.7 percent
4. France, 5 percent
5. Canada, 3 percent
6. Brazil, 2.6 percent
7. Spain, 2.5 percent
8. Austria, 2.4 percent
9. Taiwan, 2.1 percent
10. Poland, 2 percent
10. Japan, 2 percent
12. Germany, 1.8 percent

CATEGORIES : 1spam, 1zombies, 1stats, 1report, 1trends