Rate Of Email Spam Falls To Lowest Level Since 2003

As hard as it might be to believe, the rate of email spam has fallen to its lowest level in 12 years, according to new figures. The data comes care of Symantec, creators of Norton Security, who reported that, of the messages they filtered last month, only 49.7 percent were classed as spam, VentureBeat report.

Symantec claim that the last time the spam rate was this low was an astonishing 12 years ago, in September, 2003. The amount of spam appears to have been falling since April, with that month’s rate of junk mail decreasing from 55.8 percent in March, to 52.1 percent, according to an earlier report.

The Daily Mail reports that it’s not all rosy in the world of computer security, however — the amount of new malware (the general term for viruses, spyware, and other nasties) has seen a big jump. Over 57 million new types of malware were found by the company last month, compared to 44.5 million in May, the highest number since November, 2014.

VentureBeat also notes that the number of ransomware attacks were up this month, with Symantec recording 477,000 such attacks. Ransomware is a type of malware which locks the user’s system, preventing them from accessing it without paying a fee. Trend Micro, another security vendor, report that such ransoms can range in cost from $24 to $600.

According to the BBC, it is believed that proactive action by law enforcement has helped cut the rate of spam. They report that British police have taken down seven botnets over the past 10 months. Botnets are networks of computers which have been infected by malware, which can then be controlled by criminals and used to distribute spam.

As well as spam, a potentially more dangerous problem with email is the risk of malware infection. However, this has also fallen, according to the report. Symantec say that only one email out of every 319 were found to contain malware, down from one in every 217 in June. The amount of new Android malware being found is also down, with just one new family of Android malware being discovered, down from two in May.

Have you noticed any reduction in the amount of spam email you’ve received, or is it the same as ever?

[Lead image by notoriousxl via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0. All other images by Symantec.]