The state of spam: An interview with Jamie de Guerre, Part 1 - Network World

Skip Links

DNSstuff.com
Get information about your IP
IP Information
50+ On-demand DNS and network tools

Security

Videos

rssRss Feed
Get instant email notification when white papers, webcasts, executive guides are added to our library.  Stay informed and up-to-date with the latest on IT Technologies with Network World's Resource Alerts.
Audio

Crackin' the Kraken bot. Listen now!

Network World's Newsmaker of the Week

Wireless dangers at airports. Listen now!

Network World Panorama

Additional Resources

RSS

FEATURED REPORTS

Executive Guide: Storage Heats Up HP

Get the latest on storage technologies that allow IT professionals to better cope with new IT demands. Learn how storage technologies can help you successfully tackle e-Discover, regulatory compliance, green data center initiatives and the data explosion. Get all the details now.

RSS

FEATURED WEBCASTS

Get Real-world Advice on how to Cost Effectively Consolidate your Data Center Novell

Discover the benefits of paravirtualization in this informative webcast today. This server virtualization-themed webcast not only explores how to improve virtualized server performance, but provides real-world user examples, explains how to optimize workloads and discusses the future of server virtualization. Focus on only the themes that interest you or watch all six consecutively for a full picture of how you can lower your costs significantly through consolidation and virtualization. Register below to learn more and be entered to win an Archos 605 Portable Media Player.

IT Buyer's Guides

View All Buyer's Guides

Free Newsletters

Sign up and receive the latest news, reviews and trends on your favorite technology topics

Save The Date!
What They Are Saying

So, the OpenOffice.org Community has announced the public beta release of OpenOffice.org 3.0, a new version...- Microsoft Subnet

Join the Discussion

The state of spam: An interview with Jamie de Guerre, Part 1

Cloudmark CTO gives an update on the spam problem
Security Strategies Alert By M. E. Kabay , Network World , 03/25/2008
Sign up for this newsletter now!
  • Social Web 
  • Email 
  • Feedback 
  • Close

Spam is a major operational problem for all professionals because of its waste of bandwidth; it is a significant nuisance even for non-professionals, contributing to computer-based crime and increasing doubts about e-commerce. I recently interviewed Cloudmark CTO Jamie de Guerre via e-mail and am pleased to convey our discussion in a two-part report.

How’s the spam? We hear estimates of anywhere from 75% to 90% of the total bandwidth of the Internet is being wasted by unsolicited commercial e-mail; what do the experts find?

Cloudmark provides spam filtering for the world’s largest e-mail providers including 11 of the top service providers in North America. Over 96% of all e-mail sent to these operators is spam today.

Are there regional variations in spam? That is, are different parts of the world receiving different amounts of spam and are there differences in the origination frequency by geography?

Yes, there are differences in both the amount of spam received and generated by different regions.

North America is definitely the leader in receiving spam. As I mentioned, over 96% of all e-mail received by large North American operators is spam. That number is quite a bit lower in Europe – only around 85% of all e-mail received by large European operators is spam. In Asia, the number is similar, around 80% of all e-mail received by major Asian operators is spam.

This graph shows the percentage of spam generated by several of the top sources of spam in the world, by country.

Has the legal situation improved any? Some years ago, I wrote a column with my favorite title of all time: “Can CAN-SPAM can spam?” Obviously, it hasn't. Are there any legal measures that you think would be of any use at all in fighting spam?

Yes, the legal situation has improved; however, the impact is negligible. Efforts by organizations to track down attackers have increased. There have also been some successful prosecutions. However, these actions have had a relatively small impact on the amount of spam and on the attackers. The rate of successful prosecutions has been slower than the growth of the attacking community by orders of magnitude.

1 | 2 | 3 |  Next >
Comment
Login
Forgot your account info?
Add comment
Anonymous comments subject to moderator approval. Register here for member benefits.
Have a NetworkWorld account? Log in here. Register now for a free account.
First Name
Last Name
E-mail
Zip Code