Hello Sniffer folks, and Sniffer Support, I have just completed an analysis of the New Spam Arrival Rates over the past two weeks.
Two weeks ago at this time, we were receiving a new (as yet unfiltered) spam at our traps at a rate of approximately 23 messages per hour. Over the past two weeks there has been a nearly linear increase of roughly 50% !! --- At this moment we are averaging approximately 35 messages per hour. (Reference the attached graph: New Spam includes messages that arrive at our traps which do not match any known signatures. Averages are calculated by collecting 4 hour counts in a sliding window (RED), then smoothing that data over one day (BLUE) and one week (GRAY) periods.) This rather abrupt change coincided with the arrival of a new rash of email worms designed to infect computers and turn them into "zombies" that can be used to send more spam and other malware. Just prior to these changes the rate of new spam arrivals at our traps had been fairly stable for quite some time, with only a modest, continuous increase and the occasional, short lived spam storm. There is some evidence that the rate of new spam may be slowing slightly (leveling off), but that evidence is anecdotal and is not backed up by the hard data at this time. It's important to note that these increases seem to be more about new spam campaigns and wider variations of spam rather than just a general increase in volumes. While there has been a significant increase in spam volumes, that increase is significantly smaller than the increase in new types and versions of spam being produced. Just thought you'd like to know ;-) Your comments and insights are welcome and encouraged as always! Thanks, _M Pete McNeil (Madscientist) President, MicroNeil Research Corporation Chief SortMonster (www.sortmonster.com)
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