I always find it interesting when I stumble across a headline that spam numbers are falling, especially when you see so many surveys of users complaining that they still get too much spam.

But reading an article posted by Forbes actually caught my attention in a different way. Titled Why email spam is on the decline, I figured it was worth a look. After all, most posts that talk about the death, or decline, of junk email messages are often just site numbers and give no real explanation. Having finally stumbled across something that gives some substance to the conversation I figured it was worth a look.

According to the author, spam levels are falling because of cost. When spam was in its heyday, it was cheap to send millions of messages at once so people did. Using everything from a mail server to large botnets, millions of spam emails were pumped out daily. Nowadays it is estimated that the cost-per-click average for spam (the total cost it takes to get one person to click on a spam link) is $4.45. This likely does not include phishing and spear-phishing, just marketing spam.

You asked for it, you’ve got it, readers of AllSpammedUp.com! Based on some of the comments that we received in my last article, I thought I would start out a new series of articles on this history of spam.  Over the next few weeks we’ll take a look at the origin of spam, how it got its name, and how it grew from minor nuisance to major problem, the financial impact from the perspective of both sender and recipient, and how the various technologies we use to counter spam operate. Here’s what you can look forward to over the next several weeks.

We’ll start out with the origins of email itself, since without email, we wouldn’t have spam at all. We’ll see how, as email grew from researcher’s novelty to both a mission critical business application and something almost as common as a cellphone, spam was first born, and then grew into what we all know and love today.

Then we will cover the evolution of anti-spam technologies, from the first simple word filters and sender blacklists to Bayesian filters and reputation lists. We’ll also look at some of the technologies that have been proposed over time to combat spam, and see why they didn’t catch on.

No series on spam would be complete without an article or two taking a look at some of the most notorious and prolific spammers, whether they are individuals or organized groups. And no look at spammers would be complete without a review of some of the worst and most impactful of the various malware that spammers use to peddle their wares.

We’re even going to spend a little time looking at the various regulations that are out there designed to combat spam, and why they seem to have so little impact.

Every so often, we all need to take a reality check. Whether it’s facing the bathroom scale after a very merry holiday season, steeling oneself for the impending tax season, or simply tackling the junk in our inboxes, the fun never seems to end. But now, according to Kaspersky Labs, we can all breathe a tad easier where email spam is concerned.

In their Spam Evolution 2012 Security Bulletin, Kaspersky notes some interesting trends over the past year in the nasty stuff called spam. Most notably, perhaps, is the decline in email spam. For the impatient sorts who just have to read the last page of a novel first, here’s a quick look at the high points:

• The average amount of email spam in 2012 was 72.1%
• 0.02% of all email traffic was phishing email
• 3.4% of all emails contained malicious attachments

  Telecom email users in New Zealand could be in line for some compensation following a wave of spam that hit them from YahooXtra. Security experts say thousands of YahooXtra users had their accounts compromised and used to pump out …

There was an interesting post on Lifehacker that spoke of Gmail’s new ability to make spam emails that you receive from friends as suspicious. By marking the email as suspicious it will collect data to help prevent the hacking of email accounts. If the source is an abandoned email address the recipient can click the, “Message is just spam,” button and the address will be removed from the contacts list.

Both are great tools to protect against email accounts that have been compromised and are being used to send spam. This is a growing problem that happens all too often and can often be identified when a friend’s email sends a message to you and a small group, usually in alphabetical order from the contact’s list, with nothing more than a link in the body of the message.

But aside from this being a great way to keep you from having to sort through piles and piles of junk email messages, keeping illicit email out of your inbox can also help keep your computer, and all of your resources and information, safe.

  The massive spam campaign that started before the holidays has gotten its second wind and launched yet another flood of spam. The messages brandjack FedEx and look like notifications from the company. The notices inform the recipient that a package …

You’ve read coverage before here at AllSpammedUp on anti-spam legislation pending in Canada; but as the legislation approaches its date of enforcement, there’s a lot of rumbling out in the world about what Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) means for businesses, both in and outside of Canada’s borders. By the time you are reading this, the period for comments will have come to a close. Here’s what you need to know.

It may sound like the setup for a cheesy punch line, but just for fun, try it out on your friends: What do India, Rolex and Viagra have in common? The answer? They’re all invading your inbox. The venerable folks at Cisco have just released their 2013 Annual Security Report, and as you might expect, it contains a wealth of information detailing all the ways the cyberpunks, crooks, scammers and spammers are working hard to make your day more memorable.

Some of the highlights of the article are head turners, for sure:

• Android malware has grown 2577% over 2012
• Mobile only makes up 0.5% of total web malware encounters
• Online advertisements are 182 times more likely to deliver malicious content than pornographic sites
• Global spam volumes are down 18% overall, with spammers keeping banker’s hours for a 25% drop over the weekend.

Banker’s hours, huh? Yet another reason to hold disdain and contempt for spammers. Of course, not all the information contained in the Cisco report is eyebrow-raising, although it’s still very interesting. We’ve known for a while that India’s contribution to the world includes more than delicious curry and high-tech prowess. The country continues to top the list of the world’s biggest sources of spam. The breakdown of the top ten spam producing countries is as follows:

  A new type of malware has been discovered and it’s using one of the tools designed to prevent email spoofing, spam and the malware it often contains. A new Trojan uses Sender Policy Framework (SPF) to keep itself connected …

I recently read an interesting article about a spam email that was, for all accounts, poorly crafted according to the author. I am inclined to agree with him on the surface because when you look at this message it looks like an early attempt at mass email marketing:

Subject: Consideration

Message body:
Thank you for taking the time to contact us.

Within two weeks we should be able to provide you with a decision in regard to your question, and we want you to know that we will be giving your question our fullest consideration.

We would like to thank you again for your time and consideration and will be in touch with you as soon as we have some definitive information for you.

Also you can track your request by visiting our Tracking System Page.

Yours very truly, Venessa Robison.

Hopefully, you were able to pick up on the many mistakes made in the message, but if you missed let’s go over them: