Spam Influx Reaches New Heights

Spam--unsolicited, usually dubious commercial e-mail messages--accounted for 82 percent of all the inbound e-mail processed during August, and made up 90 percent of all mail sent during one spam-filled day last month, according to e-mail security firm FrontBridge Technologies. The company says the latest flood of spam was spurred by back-to-school specials and political pitches.

According to FrontBridge, it blocked 2.5 billion spam messages in August, of 3.1 billion messages processed during that month. The e-mail storm reached a peak on August 30, when 90 percent of all the messages processed by FrontBridge were spam. FrontBridge, which offers e-mail management and security services for companies, compiled its data from more than 2200 global customers and 15,000 e-mail domains.

Spam, Viruses on the Rise

Offers for back-to-school items and political spam from around the world led the charge in August. The 85 percent figure compares with a monthly total of 80 percent spam in July and 57 percent spam one year ago, according to figures provided by FrontBridge. The one-day high of 90 percent topped the previous one-day concentration of spam of 85 percent, set in June, the company says.

Viruses are on the rise as well. FrontBridge also stopped 34 million virus-infected e-mail messages in August. The viruses were caught by FrontBridge's service, which incorporates antivirus technology licensed from a number of companies.

The story could have been worse. The volume of spam last month was actually lower, due to reduced output from spam operations in Boca Raton, Florida, which lost power after two hurricanes hit the southern state last month, the company says.

Overall, spam volume has increased 1600 percent since the company began filtering it in the year 2000, FrontBridge says.