WebProNews

Spam messages in the first quarter of 2008 accounted for 92.3 percent of all email sent according to a new report from Sophos.

During this period Sophos found 23,300 new spam related Web pages everyday, or about one every three seconds.

For the first time Turkey was in the top three of offending countries sending spam. Compromised computers in Turkey accounted for 5.9 percent of the globe's spam, compared to 3.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007.

"Turkey's appearance in the top three makes for an interesting realignment so early on in the year, but does not mean that other countries can give up the fight - spam is a global problem and must be tackled as such," said Carole Theriault, senior security consultant at Sophos.

The U.S. remained in the top position of countries responsible for generating spam with 15.4 percent followed by Russia accounting for 7.4 percent in the first quarter. In the past year the number of spam messages sent from compromised computers in Russia has more than doubled. In the first quarter of 2007 Russia relayed just three percent of the world's spam.

"As long as spammers continue to make money from these nasty ruses, the spam plague will continue," said Theriault. "Businesses must wise-up to this threat and recognize the importance of quarantining spam messages before they are delivered to the unsuspecting user."
 

The top twelve spam-relaying countries: