Nearly 50 percent of the spam captured by Sophos on its global monitoring network originated in Asia. North American spam accounted for just 25 percent of the global total, according to the company.
Two years ago, according to Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos, the U.S. led the world in spam.
“We're seeing spammers being successfully brought to justice in the U.S., but it's important to remember that they can be based anywhere in the world,” Cluley said.
In addition to crediting Can-Spam with the decrease in American spamming, Sophos also cited greater information sharing by ISPs as a critical tool in the campaign against spam.
Still, Cluley wasn’t so sure that legislation and ISPs would be able to stop spam.
“That the U.S. has cut the amount of spam it generates in half is evidence that more Americans are now aware of the need to protect their home computers from malicious hackers,” Cluley said.
While Asia leads the pack for spammers these days, many spammers are seeking refuge in Europe as well, according to Cluley, who concluded that while legislation like Can-Spam helps, the real solution is in the hands of users because spammers can always set up shop elsewhere.
“What's needed is for home users to better protect their computers with automatically updated antivirus software, operating system patches and decent firewalls,” Cluley said. “It is imperative that computer users worldwide put better defenses in place to prevent their computers from being converted into spam-spewing zombies.”