Sophos reveals dirty dozen spam countries

Australia and New Zealand have manged to keep off Sophos’ latest report on the top twelve spam relaying countries during the first quarter of the year.

SophosLabs have revealed despite efforts to clean its act up, the US still sent more spam than any other country during the period.

China, in second place, lead the pack in having the most spam email sent out of Asia, with France in fourth place, leading Europe.

During the quarter both Australia and New Zealand kept off of the dirty dozen spammers list, occupying the 23rd and 53rd positions respectively.

The ‘dirty dozen’ spam relaying countries from January to March 2006 were:

1. US - 23.1 percent

2. China (inc. Hong Kong) - 21.9 percent

3. S Korea - 9.8 percent

4. France - 4.3 percent

5. Poland - 3.8 percent

6. Spain - 3.3 percent

7. Germany - 3.0 percent

8. Brazil - 2.9 percent

9. Japan - 2.0 percent

10. United Kingdom - 1.9 percent

11. Netherlands - 1.8 percent

12. Taiwan - 1.6 percent

Others - 20.6 percent

This list shows where spam-sending computers are located, rather than confirming the country the spammer is actually in.

This is because zombie computers, or botnets, are used to send the majority of spam - and spammers are able to use zombies from all over the world during a single spam run.

The reduction in US-relayed spam has had a significant impact on the rest of the chart, with China now closer than ever to the top. Poland, Spain and Germany all saw their spam-relaying percentages rise between Q4 2005 and Q1 2006.

While the UK, which was absent altogether from the Q4 2005 dirty dozen, has now re-entered the table in tenth position. These changes have helped Europe challenge North America for second position in the top spam-relaying continents.

The breakdown of spam relaying by continent in January to March 2006,as follows :

1. Asia - 42.8 percent

2. North America - 25.6 percent

3. Europe - 25.0 percent

4. South America - 5.1 percent

5. Australasia - 0.8 percent

6. Africa - 0.6 percent

Other - 0.1 percent