The quantity of spam being sent increased again last month for
the 16th consecutive month, according to anti-spam software
provider Brightmail. Financial services are still the most common
subject of spam, accounting for 36% of all unsolicited commercial
e-mail in October 2002, according to the company's latest data.
Brightmail found that, after financial services, promotions of products and services make up the majority of other unsolicited e-mail, at 31%. Pornographic spam rose slightly to 12% last month, from 11% in September.
Finally, e-mail scams accounted for 4% of spam. The most common fraudulent e-mail was the Nigerian investment scam; other common types are bogus university diplomas and get-rich-quick scams.
Brightmail recorded over 5,352 million spam attacks in October, compared to 5,285 million in September.
Brightmail's pie chart showing the split of spam types:
www.brightmail.com/pdfs/1102_spam_definitions.pdf
Brightmail's graph showing number of spam attacks each month since May 2001:
www.brightmail.com/pdfs/1102_spam_attacks.pdf
