Ever wondered why you get so much spam?

By Steven Musil

Email management company SparkList.com has confirmed that customer email addresses were stolen from its database, allowing some customers' mailing lists to be bombarded with spam.

An internal investigation into complaints about spam revealed that the lists were compromised in March, SparkList COO Steven Brown said in an email to clients on Tuesday.

Brown said: "This incident does not appear to be a technical, widespread compromise of SparkList servers, due to the fact that most lists were not compromised."

SparkList, which was acquired by Lyris Technologies in August, said it suspected former employees were responsible for the theft of addresses because only a small portion of the database was compromised. "An outside entity would not limit itself to a small subset of the addresses available," Brown said.

After the acquisition, Lyris hired only three of SparkList's 20 to 25 employees.

SparkList said the organisation sending the spam was a "well-known spammer" and that it was exploring its legal options in relation to anti-spam laws. It also said it was assisting law enforcement officials in the investigation.

SparkList executives were not immediately available for comment.

Steven Musil writes for News.com