Sophos reveals "dirty dozen" spam-relaying countries for Q3 2007

IT security and control firm Sophos has published its latest report on the top twelve spam-relaying countries over the third quarter of 2007.

Experts at SophosLabs scanned all spam messages received in the company's global network of spam traps, and have revealed that yet again the US relayed more spam than any other nation, accounting for a massive 28.4 percent - meaning that almost one in three of all the world's spam emails is being sent through a compromised US computer.

The gap between the US and its nearest rival has also increased significantly, with second placed South Korea only responsible for relaying 5.2 percent, or one in twenty spam messages.

"It seems as though a major American spammer is arrested every other week at the moment, but despite these high-profile lawbreakers being put away, the US continues to relay far more spam than any other nation on the planet," said Carole Theriault, senior security consultant at Sophos.

"This level of activity can't be attributed solely to the slick operations of a few cash-hungry criminals. The problem is there are thousands of spammers using many thousands of compromised zombie computers in the US. The only way we're going to reduce the problem is if US authorities invest a lot more in educating computer users of the dangers, while ensuring ISPs step up their monitoring efforts to identify these compromised machines as early as possible."

According to Sophos, while the US has risen substantially in the spam stakes, neighbouring Canada has continued to make good progress in eradicating the spam problem, further reducing its spam-relaying figure during Q3 to just 0.8 percent.