Spam has risenfor the sixth quarter
in a row, with 96.4% of all e-mail now spam, says network
monitoring firm Ipswitch.
Using its Spamometer system, which measures e-mail that is
received, Ipswitch said the increase in spam for the quarter just
gone compared with 95% the previous quarter, and the 84% for the
same quarter a year ago.
The biggest category of spam is related to finance, making up
41% of all messages in inboxes. A quarter of messages received
relate to medication spam, and 21% are pornographic e-mails.
The rise in financial spam mirrors the current worrying trend
for e-mails requesting recipients to call up illegitimate call
centres and pass over personal financial information, known as
"Vishing".
Ipswitch's research also found that spam from
botnets accounted
for 72% of all spam generated.