Spam up, McColo a distant memory
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
What some may have described as a victory against unwanted spam emails has turned into a small speedbump on the cybercriminal superhighway.
After hosting provider McColo was taken down on November 11th, spam email levels were said to drop by 50 percent, with some reports touting the drop as high as 70 percent.
However, according to recent security report, the spam level and botnet activity have risen to 80 percent of their strength before the takedown, PCAdvisore.co.uk reports.
Researchers blame the quick resurgence of spam on botnet herders' ability to get their programs up-and-running again in a short amount of time, according to the article. In recent weeks, spam emails have included familiar suspects in replica watches, erectile dysfunction drugs and weight loss products.
It was also discovered the majority of the spam contained malicious links, which suggests an attempt by cybercriminals to download malware on unsuspecting machines. This follows news that in the coming year, hackers would be evolving their attacks and using innovative ways to take control of systems.
Recently, there has been a push by government officials and agencies to create a National Office for Cyberspace to oversee internet security issues.
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