Spammers catch on to the local lingo

Security firm SoftScan has warned that spam is appearing more frequently in languages other than English, and that the grammar and spelling is far more convincing to native speakers.

Spam exceeded its record breaking levels even further during November, when SoftScan classified 96.3 per cent of all emails scanned as junk.

"Local language spam has normally been easy for users to spot as it had obviously been translated electronically," said Diego d'Ambra, chief technology officer at SoftScan.

"Spammers are realising that localisation is required if they want people to respond in some way, whether clicking on a link or purchasing goods."

SoftScan reported that November was the sixth consecutive month during which spam broke the 90 per cent barrier.

Junk mail has grown considerably from 90.06 per cent in June, to November's high of 96.3 per cent.

At the weekends, when there is less legitimate business email, spam levels were consistently over 98 per cent. The peak was 98.71 per cent.

The number of viruses within email messages appears to have fallen back to levels seen before the summer, accounting for just 0.08 per cent of email scanned in November.

See also:

Spammers shift to spreading malware

2007 shows trend away from simply flogging products  04 Dec 2007

Consumers apathetic about online security

Half of UK surfers still download and file share despite knowing the risks  04 Dec 2007

Google claims drop-off in Gmail spam

Gmail engineer says junk mail levels falling for first time in years  30 Nov 2007

Security experts forecast stormy 2008

No let up from malware, warns MessageLabs  20 Nov 2007

McAfee paints grim picture for 2008

Huge rise in web 2.0 attacks and smarter botnets  16 Nov 2007

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