Anti-spam technology developer Commtouch Software Ltd. (Nasdaq: CTCH) today announced spam trends and statistics for the month of May. The announcement was based on data from the Commtouch Spam Detection Center, which analyzed hundreds of millions of spam messages in the month of May 2005.
"Our analysis shows that more and more spam is originating from the EU and Korea," said Commtouch product marketing director Oren Drori, adding that there was a simultaneous decline in spam from the United States.
According to data from the Commtouch Spam Detection Center, a quarter of all spam messages come from the Japan-Korea region. Europe, particularly Western Europe, is responsible for similar volumes, while less than 20% of world spam is now sent from North America. On a national level, South Korea, the United States and China are the world's leading spam-sending countries.
In a regional breakdown, Japan-Korea accounted for 25.78% of spam in May; Europe -- 24.71%; North America -- 18.48%; Greater China (China, HK, Taiwan) -- 16.32%; Asia-Pacific -- 4.73%; South America -- 9.38%.
In a national breakdown, South Korea accounted for 23.30% of spam in May; the US -- 15.57%; China -- 13.76%; France -- 5.52%; Brazil -- 4.61%; Spain -- 3.17%; Canada -- 2.91%; United Kingdom -- 2.51%; Japan -- 2.48%; Germany -- 2.28%.
Pharmaceuticals continue to be the main focus of spammers (38.57%), followed by financing, frauds, porn and dating, and computer supplies.
The breakdown by categories is as follows:
- Pharmaceutical: 38.57% (Popular brands: Viagra, Cialis, Valium, Xanax, Levitra, Vicodin)
- Financing: 14.83% (Popular themes: Mortgage, mortgage re-finance, health insurance)
- Scams and frauds: 11.45% (Popular themes: Stock-alerts, phishing, and 'Nigerian-sting' variations)
- Computer supplies: 11.13% (Popular software: Microsoft, Adobe, popular supplies - printer ink)
- Porn and dating: 10.29% (Popular websites: porn, dating, gay-dating)
- Gifts and shopping: 4.70% (Popular themes: Rolex fakes, cigars & wines)
- Other: 7.81% (Popular topics: Gambling, e-Marketing)
Commtouch is headquartered in Netanya, Israel and has a subsidiary in Mountain View, CA.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on Wednesday, June 15, 2005