Stock spam slumps

Separate research by security vendors McAfee and Marshal Software suggests that the industry is winning the war on spam, with two of the most common forms of spam-related scams on the decline.

Instances of 'pump 'n' dump' financial fraud spam has plummeted from 50 per cent of all spam in February to just five per cent today.

'Pump 'n' dump' is the name given to spam emails distributed by online fraudsters looking to boost the share price of thinly spread, small-cap stocks.

The scam, often linked to mafia criminal groups, has essentially been around since even before the internet (via cold-calling rather than email). It reached its online peak in February of this year - representing half the total spam in circulation.

But an analysis of some six million emails per week conducted by Marshal Software's TRACE team shows that the scam now only represents 5.1 per cent.

Bradley Antsis, director of product management at Marshal, said the joint efforts of financial regulators and anti-spam vendors are responsible for the decline.

In March of this year, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a campaign dubbed 'Operation Spamalot' - suspending the trading in 35 companies targeted by pump 'n' dump spam this year.

Image-based spam, in which unsolicited emails evade anti-spam filters by including their messages within attached images, is also on the decline according to McAfee, declining from 65 per cent at the start of the year to less than 20 per cent now.

But the total volume of spam remains the same, or slightly higher, Marshal said. Much of the remaining image-based spam is being delivered as a link rather than attachment and many spammers have retreated to traditional text-based messages, the company said.

Brett Winterford writes for ZDNet Australia