Spam Levels Rise Again, Post-McColo
Sydney, Australia – November 26, 2008: A combined team of experts from Symantec and MessageLabs has seen spam levels rise again today, returning to two-thirds
of what they were before the McColo Corp. takedown exactly two weeks ago. In the days following the takedown, spam
levels declined massively by 65 per cent.
According to Matt Sergeant, Senior Anti-Spam Technologist, the lag between the initial decline and the subsequent rise
is attributed to the time it took for botnet owners to find a new ISP and bandwidth provider.
"The Asprox and Rustock botnets are back with a vengeance after having found new command and control," Sergeant said.
Cutwail never went away and it seems its owners have used the opportunity to increase output. Mega-D is also on the rise
again, he said. Srizbi, having once been responsible for 50 per cent of all spam, is now completely defunct. Without
this botnet, spam levels won't return to what they had been.
As always, businesses and consumers are urged to make sure their spam filters and anti-virus engines are up to date.
ENDS