New spam site found every three seconds

The data from Sophos also indicated that 23,300 new spam-related web pages were created every day during the period, or one about every three seconds.

For the first time Turkey’s contribution to the global spam problem puts it in the top three offending countries.

Compromised computers in Turkey are now responsible for relaying 5.9 per cent of the world's junk email, compared to 3.8 per cent in the final quarter of 2007.

The US and Russia maintained first and second place respectively, but both countries managed to reduce their contribution to the worldwide spam problem compared to the final three months of 2007.

However, the number of spam messages sent from compromised Russian computers has more than doubled over the past year.

In the first quarter of 2007, Russia was in tenth position in the chart, relaying just three per cent of the world’s spam. Today this figure stands at 7.4 per cent.

Elsewhere in the chart, the UK is at number 10 with 3.4 per cent of all spam, up from 2.5 per cent and 12th place in the final quarter of 2007.

"Turkey's appearance in the top three makes for an interesting realignment so early in the year," said Carole Theriault, senior security consultant at Sophos.

"But this does not mean that other countries can give up the fight. Spam is a global problem and must be tackled as such."

The US continues to relay far more spam than any other country, but the gap is closing, suggesting that users may be receiving more education on safe computing and becoming more security savvy than before.