MessageLabs Intelligence research on spam in Germany, the UK, Denmark, the US, Canada and Australia

We've taken a closer look at spam on a regional/city basis in six large markets for July 2010. Just as we see differences in spam rates between countries we often see significant differences within countries:

• There is no safe haven from the deluge of spam that hits the inboxes of business users around the world. Worldwide, 90% of spam is sent by an estimated five to six million spam-sending computers that have been compromised by cyber criminals.  These computers are organized into automated robot networks, or botnets, and send an estimated 120 billion emails each day.
• Botnets are sometimes used to launch spam campaigns targeting particular regions, but botnet-driven attacks don’t often discriminate; the greater the number of people they can reach, the more money the cyber criminals stand to make.
• Targeted attacks are a worldwide threat too, though the level of danger an organization may face is largely determined by what data it has that may be worth stealing.
• More spam is destined for the Engineering, Automotive and Accommodation/Catering sectors, with 94.1%, 92.9% and 90.5% of email identified as spam, respectively. The least spammed sectors are Business Support Services (87.3%), General Services (87.4%) and Finance (87.6%).
• Areas with greater populations of small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs) are likely to receive the greatest proportion of spam. Similarly, the least spammed areas are often home to some of the largest companies. For smaller businesses, spam drains valuable resources such as bandwidth, processing power and employee productivity.

US

• The top spammed U.S. states are Idaho, Alabama, and South Carolina, with spam rates above 93 percent, well over the national average of 89.3 percent. These are followed by Indiana, Tennessee, Illinois, Utah, Washington, New Hampshire and North Carolina. The least spammed states/territories are Puerto Rico, Montana and Louisiana.
• Idaho tops the list for the second year in a row as the state/territory with the most spam. Puerto Rico also returns as the least spammed for the second consecutive year.
• In the U.S., the most spammed industries are Engineering, Automotive and Construction while the least spammed are Finance, Admin and Public Sector.

PDF version of the US special report

Canada

• New Brunswick is the most spammed province with a spam rate of 92.5%, followed by British Columbia at 89%. The least spammed province is Newfoundland and Labrador with a spam rate of 86%, followed by Quebec, Nova Scotia and Manitoba at 87%.
• New Brunswick was the only province to exceed the global spam rate of 89.3%, while New Brunswick, British Columbia and Saskatchewan exceeded the national spam rate of 88%.
• The most spammed sector is the Hospitality industry with a spam rate of 92.3%, followed by Government/Public Sector at 90.5%. The least spammed industry is IT Services at 84.8%, followed by Automotive at 85.8%.

PDF version of the Canada special report

UK

• Coventry has topped the 2010 list of most spammed UK towns and cities. The nearby county of Warwickshire was the most spammed county. In Coventry, the businesses with the highest spam rates were in the Wholesale, Professional Services (legal & accounting) and Transport & Utilities industry sectors.
• The county with the lowest spam rate in 2010 was Worcestershire, and Ipswich was the least spammed town.
• Overall, in the UK, the most spammed businesses were in the Telecoms, Accommodation & Catering and Education industry sectors, with the least spammed being in the Automotive, Recreation and Estate Agents industry sectors.

PDF version of the UK special report

Germany

• Hamburg remains “Germany’s Spam Capital” where 95.7% of all e-mail messages are spam, an increase of 0.7% on last year. Hamburg is followed by Berlin with a 94.3% spam rate.  The Top 10 most spammed cities in Germany all have a spam rate of over 90%.
• The least spammed city in Germany is Fulda. But even here, organizations struggle with a spam rate of 86.0%.
• The analysis also revealed how different industries are affected by spam. No industry receives more spam than Estate Agents  (95.9%). Companies in the Wholesale and General Services sectors are also among the top spammed industries, suffering from spam rates of 93.8% and 93.4% respectively. Employees working in Finance worry the least about spam, although still 86.0% of the email in this industry contains spam.

PDF version of the Germany special report

 

Denmark

• Herlev is the most spammed Danish town with a spam rate of 98.6%, followed by Søborg and Ikast with 94.3% and 93.5%, respectively. The least spammed town is Vallensbæk with a spam rate of 83.0%.
• A total of nine towns exceeded the global spam rate of 89.3%, while eight towns exceeded the national spam rate of 92.1%.
• The most spammed sector is health care with a spam rate of 94.6%, followed by Estate Agents at 94.3% and the chemical/pharmaceutical sector at 93.8%. The least spammed industry is wholesale at 83.0%.

PDF version of the Denmark special report

Australia

• The Australian Capital Territory is the most spammed state or territory. Businesses in the Health Care, Recreation and Education industry sectors are those that are targeted with the highest spam rates in Australia.
• The least spammed state or territory in 2010 is South Australia. The least targeted sectors include Business Support Services (recruitment and secretarial), Automotive and Estate Agents.
• Small-Medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the Australian Capital Territory with between 1 and 250 users have higher spam rates than larger-sized companies  consisting of 250 employees or more; as much as 7 percent higher in some cases.

PDF version of the Australia special report