Spammers reducing reliance on Botnets

Botnets are out, malware and phishing are in, according to a new report into spam trends.

TheCommtouch report says spam levels dropped to their lowest in three yearsfollowing a sustained assault on Botnet systems such as Rustock.

Althoughsuch drops are usually accompanied by rises as spammers establish new Botnets,this drop is holding steady, Commtouch says.

However,the news isn't all good, with indicators suggesting spammers are adopting a newstrategy.

Accordingto Commtouch chief technology officer, Amir Lev, "Spammers are trying toout-manoeuver IP-based spam blocking techniques.

"Theyare now using a combination of malware and phishing to compromise legitimateaccounts and then using these accounts to send low-volume spam outbreaks.

106billion spam emails were sent in June, compared with almost 200 billion inAugust last year.

Go here to read more, and to download the full report.