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E-Mail Threats Increase Sharply

More viruses, spam, and malicious scams were reported in 2002, and the upward trend is expected to continue.

By David Legard, IDG News   

Viruses, spam, and malicious Internet scams transmitted by e-mail all grew sharply in 2002, posing a threat to the smooth running of worldwide e-mail systems, according to security vendor MessageLabs.

The problem of spam, or unsolicited e-mail, has become so bad that the number of spam e-mails being received will exceed the number of legitimate e-mails next year, MessageLabs said in a statement Wednesday.

E-Mail Events

In its review of e-mail threats in 2002, MessageLabs reported that:

  • Spam now accounts for 30 percent of all e-mail and is set to rise above 50 percent in July next year.

  • One virus was sent for each 212 e-mails in 2002, compared with one virus per 380 e-mails in 2001. This upward trend is expected to continue.

  • Technical sophistication of viruses continues to increase, exposing weaknesses in traditional anti-virus software.

  • Blended threats, where spam e-mails are combined with viruses, showed sharp growth in 2002.

  • Trojans, or attacks targeted at companies and individuals, rose sharply in 2002.

  • Malicious scams, such as the Nigerian e-mail advance fee scam are continuing to proliferate and prosper. The Nigerian advance fee, or 419, scam is expected to gross $2 billion in 2003, making it that country's second-largest industry.

MessageLabs will detail possible responses to these threats on Thursday at the Information Security Conference in New York.

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