The government-run National ICT Security and Emergency Response Centre (Niser) in Malaysia registered 1,323 spam-related cases in the first three quarters of this year, against just 449 virus attacks and 260 hacking attempts, according to a report in news daily The Star.
No details were given on the spam incidents, but it is believed they involved emails with Trojan viruses that turn Malaysian PCs into spam relays, or foreign complaints about Malaysian spammers.
There has been a noted surge with 97 percent of spam-related cases occurring in the last three months reported, July, August and September. There were only 114 spam-related cases for all of last year.
Two-thirds of 102 Malaysian organizations surveyed in July by AC Nielsen and Niser called for the government to introduce antispam regulations. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) recently suggested antispam laws.
Computer abuse cases are probably unreported, Energy, Communications and Multimedia Deputy Minister Datuk Tan Chai Ho said, citing a Niser study that only 30 percent of cases were ever reported. "What is evident is that the rate is on the increase, as society tends to rely heavily on ICT," the Minister said in the report.
Some experts say global spam has risen recently to a record high of up to 50 percent of all email sent. The effects of anti-spam legislation in the U.S. and Europe have been limited by low cross-border enforcement.
A U.K.-based security firm, mi2g, recently accused Malaysia among other Asian countries of hosting spam relay groups that hijacked home and small business computers in Western countries.
Firewalls, spam-filtering and bandwidth monitoring are possible safeguards, as well as virus protection as some spammers use Trojan Horse viruses to operate.
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Spammail Are never Die........
Posted by Po on Wednesday, July 07 2004 03:11 PM