Spam is clearly the most serious problem

In a survey, we’re asking IT professionals to rate the seriousness of a variety of problems they face in managing messaging systems and other parts of the IT infrastructure. What we’re finding is no surprise: 49% of respondents have indicated that spam is “a very serious problem.”

In contrast, 33% view growth in e-mail storage requirements as very serious, 31% view large attachments sent through e-mail as very serious, and 21% view employee time spent dealing with spam as very serious.

The fact that spam is viewed as so serious a problem is not much of a surprise. Spamming has skyrocketed over the past 18 months, so much so that about 70% of all e-mail sent is now spam.

Enterprises are responding to the problem by implementing antispam capabilities. In a survey we conducted in August, we found that 53% of enterprises had implemented some sort of an antispam system; currently, that figure is 65%, an increase of nearly 25% in the space of just eight months.

Will legislation solve the problem? Probably not. Although 12% of the respondents in our current study “strongly agree” that legislation will be effective in reducing spam, I’m not so optimistic.

If I receive an e-mail from a spammer in Malaysia whose Web site is hosted by a company in Argentina, how effective will my state’s antispam law be in helping me to recover damages from this spammer? Will the spammer know – or even care – that my state has a law against spamming?

In short, technology will solve the problem, not legislation. The good news for enterprise users is that as IT budgets free up (at least a little), there will be money available to implement any of the variety of rapidly improving antispam tools that are available.