For this week's Trivia Tuesday, let's talk about one of the most annoying parts of being connected online -- Spam!
History of Spam
Spam has become a constant pain for all email users. What is spam? Besides the canned pork product, it is also the name for unsolicited, bulk email. The first of such messages was sent before the internet even existed, when Gary Thuerk sent a mass mailing to the members of ARPAnet, the precursor to the internet, on May 1, 1978. However, the association of the word spam with this type of messaging occurred a bit later, when Richard Depew posted to a USENET group and a bug caused 200 messages to go out to that group in 1993. The term was coined based on a Monty Python skit, where the word "spam" is repeated incessantly.
Of course, spam is not just annoying. Many spammers are actively trying to access personal or financial information. Cisco details five different types of spam messages:
- Commercial advertisements
- Antivirus warnings
- Email spoofing
- Sweepstakes winners
- Money scams
How big of a problem is this?
Spam Statistics
Some of the recent statistics posted by DataProt are pretty astounding. Over half of all emails sent (56.5%) were spam in 2022. The top spam categories are:
- Advertising (36%)
- Adult content (31.7%)
- Financial matters (26.5%)
While scams and fraud are only 2.5% of these spam emails, these messages are by far the most worrisome.
Despite those "Nigerian princes", more spam originates in the United States than any other country, with 8.6 billion messages sent monthly. China is in second, with 8.2 billion monthly messages. Talos Intelligence tracks the origins of spam on a daily basis.
Besides being annoying, spam email costs businesses $20.5 billion every year. That is not a small number!
One last stat, for every 12.5 million emails sent, spammers get one reply. By sending out tons of messages, they figure someone will reply. How do we stop this?
How to Avoid Spam
The first line of defense is for individuals to be aware of spam and be wise when answering emails. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission provides information to consumers on how to reduce spam, what to do with spam emails, and advice on avoiding scams.
On a policy level, the Internet Society is working to reduce spam by providing information to governments on understanding the spam landscape, enacting antispam legislation and enforcement, building international cooperation, and educating citizens on the dangers of spam.
However, the best way to avoid spam is to never get it. Cisco provides a Cisco Secure Email Threat Defense product, which goes a long way to reduce the amount of spam that people receive.
For you developers out there, Cisco also provides some tools where you can automate your email threat response. The Cisco developer portal has security resources, and code is available to help with phishing workflows. In addition, Cisco recently announced the upcoming availability of Cisco XDR Automate, which will allow you to integrate the Cisco Secure Email module with Cisco XDR. You can find many workflows on the Cisco Security GitHub site, and you can learn how to build the workflows with security Learning Labs on the developer portal.
Be safe out there!
Do you have any email/spam horror stories you can share? Any tips on avoiding spam?
