Spam on the increase

McAfee report shows that 150 billion spam messages are generated daily

Cybercriminals are taking advantage of American concerns about healthcare by flooding the internet with spam.

According to McAfee Labs’ October Spam Report, 70 percent of global spam is now “Canadian” pharmacy spam that takes advantage of fears of Swine Flu and rising costs of Medicare and pharmaceuticals.

Spammers generate more than 150 billion spam messages daily; that’s enough to send everyone in the world more than 30 emails every day (including people without computers). Nearly 19 out of every 20 emails are spam, and cybercriminals are growing more sophisticated with their attacks. No brands seem to be safe, and this month’s report analyzes how spammers are abusing the brands of Monopoly, The Hollywood Reporter and even the Jewish organization Chabad to distribute malware.

“The best response for consumers is to avoid clicking links in emails, whether they are from banks, pseudobanks, or other services,” said Adam Wosotowsky, the anti-spam technology lead for McAfee Labs. “Customers should go directly to the service’s or bank’s Web site, log in, and make whatever changes or orders they want. They should also limit the number of services they sign up for, so they don’t lose track of which ones are legitimate.”