Anti Spam Tools Ineffective As Spammers Adapt More Quickly
Overall e-mail spam levels in 2010 increased about 6% from 2009, according to Google data. Google saw a spike in spam levels beginning in the latter half of 2009, and there has also been a surge in the level of e-mails with viruses attached. The size of the spam messages is also getting larger, driven mainly by image spam. Some experts believe that spammers are reusing campaign templates, in a plug- and-play sort of way, to make it faster for them to launch new campaigns.
Spam e-mail topics have not changed from the traditional cheap pharmaceuticals, celebrity gossip, breaking news, and national tragedies. The Haiti earthquake, for example, was used by spammers to spoof e-mails from reputable charities. Some anti-spam tools and strategies may actually made the situation worse. When the security community tried to block and take-down malicious ISPs, spammers adapted quickly with more sophisticated technologies like botnets, which have actually increased their spamming efficiency.