More Than 90 Percent of E-Mail is Spam

If a new spam report from Symantec's MessageLabs is surprising, you probably haven't checked your inbox recently.

About 90.4 percent of all e-mail is spam, an increase of 5 percent from last month, MessageLabs said Tuesday. That means one out of every 1.1 e-mails is a spam message.

What caused the spike? Webmail, social networking sites, and botnets are just a few of the culprits, the company said.

Webmail and social networking profiles are "goldmines for spammers," according to MessageLabs. "All spammers use is a subject line and a valid hyperlink to active profiles on one of a number of major social networking sites. These e-mails originate from legitimate addresses on some of the main webmail providers making them harder to catch by regular anti-spam filters."

Spammers are also taking advantage of social networks via tools that crack the automated CAPTCHA terms users must type in before setting up accounts.

Spammers are most active during the U.S. workday, MessageLabs found, suggesting that active spammers are either based in this country or find the U.S. workforce the most attractive targets.

"A new harder to crack CAPTCHA technology is on the horizon and spammers want to maximize their profits before this new breed of CAPTCHAs are let loose as a deterrent to spammers and phishers," according to MessageLabs.

Meanwhile, about 57.6 percent of spam was sent via botnets. The most active botnet, known as Donbot, sent 18.2 percent of spam and is most active in Asia. Two botnets, known as Rustock and Bagle, meanwhile, are most active in the Americas and make up 20 percent of spam. In the rest of the world, there are the Cutwail and Xarvester botnets, which account for 10 percent of spam.

In related news, the White House announced Tuesday that it will release its 60-day Cyberspace Policy Review on Friday.

"The administration recognizes the very serious threats public and private sector networks face from cybercrime and cyberattack," press secretary Robert Gibbs said during a press briefing. "Recognizing these threats the President has elevated cybersecurity to a major administration priority, undertaking the early comprehensive interagency review."

"The report is an important first step towards securing our nation's cyber infrastructure," Gibbs concluded.