According to new statistics, the sending of unsolicited
commercial e-mail – or spam – is a rapidly worsening problem.
Research was carried out by Brightmail, a provider of spam
filtering solutions based in San Francisco.23 Nov 2000
The company intercepted between 8,000 and 13,000 spam attacks each day last week. Each spam attack represents the bulk mailing of a message with unique characteristics sent during a 24-hour period.
The latest figures represent an increase of 150% on last month’s statistics and an increase of 400% on last year’s.
"Spammers are becoming more aggressive and sophisticated in their attempts to deliver a myriad of products, ‘get rich’, weight loss, political, and other dubious propositions to the fast growing number of e-mail boxes," said Gary Hermansen, CEO of Brightmail. "In addition, spam seriously affects the service providers by increasing the costs associated with delivering a satisfying e-mail experience to their customers.”