Sophos: US Sends Five Times More Spam than Korea

Sophos Labs, an international firm specializing in IT security and control, has published its most recent "dirty dozen" report, saying that the United States relays more spam than any other country by a tremendous margin.

This is not a newly-achieved position, as the company has been releasing these reports for several years, and it is always topped by the United States.

According to this year's report, 28.4% of the world's spam is sent from American computers. The number two spot on the list is held by South Korea at a mere 5.2%.

Canada, which was ranked in second place in 2004, has dropped entirely off of the list, down to only .8%. This is largely thanks to the sustained effort to thwart spammers which began as the "Anti-Spam Action Plan" enacted that same year. China dropped a dramatic 8.5% this year, thanks to a similar Anti-Spam law passed in early 2006.

Spain went from the number 5 position on the list this time last year with 5.8%, to not even being ranked in the top 12 at all this year.

The noticeable trend in "Dirty Dozen" listings between years is for the top countries to pull closer together to an average, while the category "other" increases.

However, the study that yields the list does not attempt to trace the origins of spam, meaning for example, spam sent from a computer in the U.S. that was infected by a Trojan Horse from Italy would register as American spam. It goes on to point to the susceptibility of American computers due to the general lack of consumer education and security monitoring from ISPs.

While US computer users could surely benefit from greater awareness and more protection, one must also remember when looking at this list that the US has more computers per capita to exploit than the other nations listed.

Taking this into account, the list's number four spot - held by Russia at a modest 4.4% - begins to look much more sinister. The country's extremely low per capita distribution of personal computers at 4% can generate the same percentage of the whole world's spam.