Spam Hits Five-Year Low—So Why Should You Be Concerned?

by Dave Moorman

In January 2013, Internet security firm Kaspersky proclaimed that in 2012, spam hit a five-year low. Specifically, the report stated, “This continual and considerable decrease in spam volumes is unprecedented.”

However, before you and your employees dance in the streets at the thought of less spam, consider this: Kaspersky attributed the reduction, not to a lessening of spam messages, but rather to the success of spam-fighting technologies. In other words, spammers are still plying their nefarious trade, but they are less successful getting through.

Of even greater concern, cybercriminals (with whom spam is now a favorite target) are becoming increasingly malicious and inventive. Kaspersky described the range of subjects used in malicious emails as “impressive.” At DynaSis, we think “alarming” is a better description. For many years, malicious attackers have used tricks such as faked notifications and messages from a variety of legitimate (and fictional) sources such as credit card companies, financial and government organizations, and other trusted entities.

In 2012, criminals expanded their repertoire to include fake messages from airlines, coupon services, travel reservation firms and other leisure-industry firms. Some of these messages look like innocuous reservation confirmations and other routine communications. Others offer too-good-to-be-true “deals.” (Yes, the lure of saving big money continues to take down a lot of folks.)

Like other dangerous spam, these fake emails usually contain malicious attachments or links to malicious sites. Clicking them can do anything from installing a zombie bot that takes over your network to launching a worm that eats your data. And, because it happens inside your defense shields, it may go undetected.

For this reason, it continues to be utterly vital for SMBs to incorporate best-practices IT security management, including strong spam protection, into their overall IT strategy. If you are not absolutely certain your IT infrastructure is a veritable fortress and your email is effectively protected from spam, contact DynaSis for a no-strings-attached consultation.

Don’t count on your employees being savvy enough to outsmart malicious spammers. If they can trick the top management of Fortune 100 firms and global governments, they can dupe anyone.