USA tops the spam charts relaying 1 in 6 spam e-mails

Sophos has revealed its latest global spam figures for the second quarter of 2009 and the U.S. continues to top the charts relaying 1 in 6 of all spam messages sent. What that means is one in every six spam messages sent is done through a compromised machine located in the U.S.

With these figures Sophos has suggested that the U.S. needs to look in its own backyard before looking overseas for cybercriminals. Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos said:

Barack Obama’s recent speech on cybersecurity emphasised the threat posed by overseas criminals and enemy states, but these figures prove that there is a significant problem in his own back yard. If America could clean up its compromised PCs it would be a considerable benefit to everyone around the world who uses the net … All web users need to properly defend their computers from attack, and pledge to never act upon spam messages.

Compared to last year Russia has seen a significant drop in the amount of spam relayed through the country. Now it only relays 3.2% in 9th position where as last year it was second with 7.5%. Columbia has now left this so-called Dirty Dozen and Poland has seen an increase in spam taking it from tenth to sixth this year.