Spam activity fell steeply in Christmas: Symantec
10 Jan 2011
The number of junk emails being sent globally has dramatically fallen, especially over the recent Christmas period, according to the security firm Symantec.
The firm said the number of spam messages had dropped since Christmas from 200 billion daily during the summer to 50 billion.
According to Paul Wood, senior analyst at Symantec, spikes and falls in the volume of spam are seen on a daily basis but the magnitude of the drop seen in the past weeks was unexpected and unexplained.
The Telegraph reported Wood telling BBC News that during the Christmas period, three of the largest spam producers had cut back on their activity.
One of the botnets, Rustock, the network of infected computers that circulates the bulk of spam, dramatically cut back its activity in December.
It accounted for 47 per cent to 48 per cent of global spam at its peak, however, in December, Rustock accounted for only 0.5 per cent of global spam.
