update More Asian countries are moving up the ranks in the list of top spamming countries in the world, according to a new report by Sophos.
The security vendor's latest "Dirty Dozen" list, which tracks spam activity from July to September, listed China, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, among the top 30 countries from which spam originated.
In contrast, between April and June this year, only China, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines were ranked among the top 30. Malaysia and Singapore were ranked 31st and 33rd, respectively, during that period.
During the third quarter, China--including Hong Kong--remained Asia's top spamming nation, despite seeing a dip in the amount of spam it contributed to the overall volume.
Compared to 20 percent in the previous quarter, China--which fined its first spammer in August--accounted for 13.4 percent of all spam relayed during the third quarter. Globally, it was ranked No. 2, after the United States which contributed 21.6 percent.
South Korea and Taiwan also made it to the top 10 list, coming in 3rd and 10th, respectively. Japan was placed 12th, while Thailand occupied the 16th position.
Paul Ducklin, Sophos' Asia-Pacific head of technology, told ZDNet Asia Thursday that there should not be too much concern over the latest statistics. He added that unless the jumps are significant, there are unlikely to be any serious implications for countries, ranked outside the top 10, that have moved up the ranks.
However, Ducklin noted, it is more important that countries such as Brunei and Myanmar, which are considered low-risk to realize that they are not immune from spammers looking to hijack users' computers and Internet access. "This is really everybody's problem," he said.
According to the Sophos report, Asia continues to be the largest source of spam, contributing around 34 percent of global spam e-mail compared with 40.2 percent in the previous quarter.
Between July and September, spam contribution from North America--which includes Canada--also fell to 24.2 percent from 25.7 percent the quarter before, while Europe's contribution increased by 4.8 percent to 31.9 percent.
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