Chinese Spam Still Low

Via Middle East Times -

BEIJING -- The amount of spam, unsolicited e-mail advertisements, originating from China dropped dramatically in the first three months of the year, according to a US IT security firm.

In the period from January to March, China accounted for 7.5 percent of all worldwide spam, Boston-based Sophos said in a statement. This compared with 21.9 percent in the year-earlier period, according to previous Sophos data.

"China, who until recently was an intimate rival to the US, dropped dramatically during the last quarter," said Carole Theriault, a senior security consultant at Sophos.

No immediate explanation was provided in the statement as to why spam had declined from China, otherwise seen as a spam superpower.

However, Internet communications from China and elsewhere in Asia have only recently recovered from damage to undersea cables caused by an earthquake near Taiwan last December.

Despite the decline, China maintained its position as the world's number two spammer after the United States.