Can the Spam

We all know about spam, we all hate it. Just to clarify a few things:

• I do not have a Barclays account, so how on Earth can it have been suspended?
• I already have a degree, I don’t want to buy another one.
• I have no intention of helping any Nigerian princess bring money into the UK.
• I do not want to buy herbal remedies to make me a better man (I’d need a hell of a lot more than that!)

However, I did not appreciate the amount of spam going around now until I received an email from Project HoneyPot (ironically it was in my Spam filter). Project HoneyPot is a worldwide organisation helping to fight spam. They have just intercepted their 1 billionth spam email and have produced a fascinating report here:

http://www.projecthoneypot.org/1_billionth_spam_message_stats.php

It’s well worth a read and contains some fascinating insights. If you can’t be bothered to read it, here are the highlights:

“We've seen the word "Viagra" spelled at least 956 different ways in order to try and trick spam filters (e.g., VIAGRA, V1AGRA, V1@GR@, V!AGRA, VIA6RA, etc.).”

No wonder that the best coded spam filters can’t stop it all getting through.

“To give you some sense, assuming an average message storage requirement of 4KB, over the last 5 years the total storage requirement imposed on the Internet by just the spammers sending the top-20 spam campaigns was over 2.5 petabytes.”

A petabyte is 1,000,000 Gb. It would take one computer on a typical broadband line around 317 years to download all of that. The impact of spam means that the internet as a whole is significantly slower.

“Every time Project Honey Pot receives a message we estimate that another 125,000 are sent to real victims. Our billionth message represents approximately 125 trillion spam messages that have been sent since Project Honey Pot started in 2004.”

Estimates suggest that there are around 500 million PCs in the world, so that is 250,000 messages each. Ouch!

“The top spamming countries are: #1 United States, #2 Spain, #3 Netherlands, #4 United Arab Emirates, #5 Hong Kong, #6 Romania, #7 Great Britain, #8    China, #9 South Africa, #10 Germany”

Good to beat the Germans and the Aussies aren’t even in the top 10… Oh yes, this isn’t one to be proud of…

So what can we all do to fight spam? Here are the top three things you can do to make a real difference:

1. Don’t ever buy anything from a spammer. If you want Viagra go to the doctor. If you want an education go to school! If nobody bought, then they wouldn’t bother sending it.
2. Get a good Anti-Virus program (e.g. McAfee or Norton). Spam is sent from PCs that are infected by a virus – it could be yours!
3. If you have a website, join Project HoneyPot and help them fight the fight.

May I take this opportunity to wish a Merry Christmas to everyone. Except spammers. I hope they choke on a turkey bone and drop dead.