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Sophos scoffs at Bill Gates ‘death-of-spam’ prophecy |
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Thursday, 26 January 2006 |
Anti-virus firm Sophos said unwanted e-mail spam remains a persistent problem, contradicting a prediction made by Microsoft CEO Bill Gates two years ago that spam would be "a thing of the past."Gates made this prediction at the World Economic Forum on January 24, 2004.
Sophos announced in its latest report that 24.5 percent of spam worldwide was from the US, keeping the country still top of the list of the most prolific spammers.
China comes second as the source of 22.3 percent of spam worldwide. It has overtaken South Korea, at 9.7 percent the third biggest source of spam.
Despite Gates prediction, Sophos said that there had been significant reduction in spam worldwide, particularly in the US where the Can-Spam legislation imposing stiff penalties on spammers took effect in 2003.
The US and the United Kingdom are leading the way in prosecuting spammers. Sophos Senior Technology Consultant Graham Cluley said in a statement that the legislation is to be acknowledged for the reduction in spam.
Cluley also rebuked the Microsoft CEOs prediction, calling it "extraordinarily optimistic."
"Its not such good news for Bill Gatess skills as a fortune teller, as spam is clearly not a thing of the past. E-mail users worldwide are still being bombarded by all manner of unsolicited messages," Cluley said.
On the other hand, he continued, there has been a tremendous growth in non-English spam, as shown by the sudden entry of China in Sophos "Dirty Dozen" list of spammers.
An indication of the growth of non-English spam is the delisting of the UK from the spammers’ Dirty Dozen. It is now in 14th place.
"The amount of non-English language spam continues to grow - proof that spammers are attempting to exploit every corner of the global market with their money-making schemes," Cluley said.
The remaining Dirty Dozen list of spammers, according to rank, are as follows: France at 5 percent, Canada at 3 percent, Brazil at 2.6 percent, Spain at 2.5 percent, Austria at 2.4 percent, Taiwan at 2.1 percent, Poland and Japan both at 2.0 percent, and Germany at 1.8 percent Sophos scoffs at Bill Gates "death-of-spam" prophecy. |