Spam evolution: January - March 2009

•  The amount of graphical spam increased by 6.7% and accounted for 16.3% of all spam.

• The amount of e-advertizing spam tripled, making up 15% of all spam. More than 20% of spam on the Russian Internet comes from Eastern countries. 

• Spammers are continuing to use old tricks.

Spam volume

During Q1 2009, spam accounted for 86.8% of all mail traffic which is 5% higher than the average amount of spam in 2008. However, this is not an indicator of an increase in spam in mail traffic. The start of the year is a time when the volume of spam in mail traffic is traditionally high.  For example, in Q1 2008, spam averaged 88% of all mail traffic, so the figure for Q1 2009 actually indicates a drop.

The lowest percentage recorded in Q1 was 78.8% on March 2nd, with a high of 93% on February 22nd.

The amount of graphical spam increased considerably and averaged 16.3% compared to 9.6% in Q4 2008.