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According to security firm, Symantec, the global number of spam e-mails have dropped by almost half since August this year. The fall, of around 47% in three months, is said to be due to the arrests of hackers behind several spam-sending botnets, and intelligence that has seen several spamming systems closed down globally. This recent success against hi-tech spammers has been attributed to the implementation of more effective measures and international corporation in tackling suspected botnets, through which the vast majority of junk e-mails are sent.
Whilst many botnets were shut down, one of the most significant botnets takedowns was the Pushdo or Cutwail botnet which is believed to have been sending about 10% of global spam since 2007. Once traced, the Pushdo servers were turned off in an international operation co-ordinated by LastLine – a security firm- which rendered the large number of hijacked machines useless. Other botnets which were shut down include Bredolab, whose activities were believed to involve around 30 million computers, capable of sending 3.6 billion e-mails per day. It’s discovery led to the closure of 143 associated servers.
Talking Point
Are computer security firms fighting a lost cause against spammers seeing that millions of machines around the globe are continuously being turned into spam-sending botnets?
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Hébergement Web
December 10, 2010 at 2:10 pm
This is a reminder of how the years go by and spam increases, yet there remains no effective technology for stopping the spam at its sources — spam filtering is extremely crude, in the sense that the traffic floods the Internet and just gets caught at the last steps in the delivery.
Michelle
December 11, 2010 at 1:38 pm
Yes,spam filtering is extremely crude, in the sense that the traffic floods the Internet and just gets caught at the last steps in the delivery.
Michelle
December 11, 2010 at 1:40 pm
how the years go by and spam increases, yet there remains no effective technology for stopping the spam at its sources
Computers Smart Phones Technology
December 15, 2010 at 8:06 am
I dont notice if the number of spam message to my account have reduce, because I dont loot at them before I delete them. But I believe that the number of spam mails should reduce world wide to to this close down.