Spam is annoying, resource consuming, malware driven and often offensive. It is also nothing if not responsive to market needs. This can be seen in the market driven swing from pharmaceutical and health related spam which has pretty much dominated the landscape during the last couple of years, to the product based stuff that pushes replica designer clothing and Rolex watches for example. New data released by email filtering specialists at the Marshall TRACE security team suggests that the two year long reign of health-related spam is over, and considering that this accounted for 75 percent of all spam in circulation during that period according to the Marshall statistics, it is quite some news.
Of course, there is always going to be some crossover when it comes to the small matter of spam and replica products. Just how much of the Viagra being sold on-line through the spam route do you really think is the genuine article? I would be surprised if anything beyond a limp 10 percent of those little blue pills have been anywhere near the Pfizer factory or, indeed, contain any sildenafil citrate. The deflated purchasers are unlikely to be aware of this until the most unfortunate of timed moments.
However, there can be little doubting that spammers are responding to market demand. Especially the handful of major spammers which all but control the global spam distribution chain courtesy of the size of the botnets under their control. Marshall says it has noticed that these spammers are switching to replica product spam and have the power to change the global make-up of the spam landscape as a result.
"The shift in focus from remedies to product replicas suggests that the spammers have begun to appreciate differing levels of consumer confidence in the various products being promoted. Spammers might be thinking that counterfeit watches and pirated software have greater mainstream appeal with a wider audience than dubious pharmaceuticals that few people believe are effective" Bradley Anstis, Marshal Vice President of Products says, continuing "In the past, the kinds of replica products on offer were limited mainly to watches ripping off brands like Rolex or Tag Heuer. More recently we have seen spammers branch out into a wider range of designer products like handbags, shoes, pens and other accessories ripping off brands like Ugg, Prada, Versace and Dior."
Since the start of this year, Marshall notes that the proportion of health related spam that has flowed into its spam traps has steadily reduced from 80 percent down to 45 percent. At the same time, replica product spam has grown from just 12 percent to 46 percent. So the actual swing is really quite marked although the overall percentages look very similar. I doubt that either will go away, after all since the year dot both replica Rolex and Viagra spam have been a staple diet of the junk mail folder. Currently these two types of spam account for 90 percent of all the junk we receive, which begs the question: who buys this stuff?
