UK is Western Europe’s worst spam spewer

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The UK has been given the unenviable crown of the king of malicious spam in Western Europe, research has shown.

While spam generally saw a decline in the third quarter, a Trend Micro report found one in ten spam messages sent by the top 10 spam-sending nations was from the UK.

Cyber criminals were particularly intent on using spam advertising for quick and simple weight-loss products and programmes.

Indeed, a quarter of all scams detected by Trend were centred around these spam messages.

“The research shows that despite media reports about the rise in other online threats, traditional spam techniques are still favored by cyber criminals”, said Rik Ferguson, senior security advisor at Trend.

“Consumers continue to fall prey to these types of scams and that’s why they continue to be popular. My advice would be, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.”

The research was carried out in support of the Get Safe Online week, which kicked off on Monday.

“It’s vital we make people aware of the threats and how to deal with them, to ensure they continue to use the internet safely and confidently,” said Tony Neate, managing director of Get Safe Online.

“It is about education and making people aware that, yes, these dangers are real, but armed with the right knowledge, we can all continue to enjoy using the internet securely.”

Some believe whilst education is indeed needed, the awareness week does not go far enough.

“We’re now seeing malicious emails and rogue or compromised websites become more difficult for the average consumer to identify,” said Julian Lovelock, director for commerce markets worldwide at authentication solutions provider ActivIdentity.

“Get Safe Online week shouldn’t be just one week in the year to reflect on security, but an ongoing program of education to help customers and employees guard against these threats.”

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