Microsoft notices spam is a problem

happygeek 0 332 Views

A has 'revealed' that some 97 percent of the emails travelling across the Internet are actually unwanted spam. Well duh, like I didn't realise it was such a big problem. Actually, I didn't, to be fair. Mainly because just about every other security report I have read over the last six months or so has the volume of spam at being around 80 percent. Quite why the Microsoft report has such a huge jump on everyone else has yet to be explained to me.

But it gets better. The report also reckons that drug spam is the biggest problem, and that some of this unwanted email even comes complete with malicious attachments. Shock, horror, those attachments are increasingly coming as MS Office documents or PDF files as well.

Microsoft's Chief Cyber Security Advisor, and a man I actually respect greatly, Ed Gibson told the BBC that this rise in spam signalled a move from targeting software vulnerability and instead homing in on the user weakest link. "With higher capacity broadband and better OS, and higher power computers it is easier now to send out billions of spams. Three or four years ago the capacity wasn't there" Gibson said.

Other revelations in the report include: rogue antivirus software is on the way up and software vulnerabilities are on the way down. But when it comes to surprises, perhaps the fact that while "Microsoft software accounted for 6 of the top 10 browser-based vulnerabilities attacked on computers running Windows XP" when it came to those running Windows Vista that number was a big fat zero.

Sticking with the surprises, while I kind of expected the United States to be named and shamed as the country hosting the highest number of phishing sites, I did not know that Texas was the individual state claiming the title of host with the most.

Dani AI

Generated

Good to put the Microsoft figure into context rather than treating it as an absolute. Different studies measure different things: some count every SMTP transaction seen on backbone feeds, others count messages delivered to end-user inboxes, some include automated marketing mail or retry attempts, and short-lived botnet bursts can spike totals. That explains why headline percentages diverge so widely.

Practical steps that actually reduce risk for networks and users (quick checklist):

  • Publish and enforce SPF, sign outbound mail with DKIM, and roll out DMARC (start with p=none and move to quarantine/reject).
  • Use connection controls (greylisting, rate limits) plus reputable RBLs and reputation services at the MTA layer.
  • Scan and sandbox attachments server-side; block or strip risky types (executables, double extensions, macros) and convert unknown Office attachments to safe preview/PDF when possible.
  • Monitor outbound volume for compromised accounts and enforce strong auth (MFA) on mail accounts.
  • Train users: never enable macros on attachments from unknown senders and verify unexpected requests by a second channel.

Example DNS records to get started (replace example.com and selector with your values):

# basic SPF (replace mx with your sending hosts)
"v=spf1 mx -all"

# DMARC monitoring record (start here, then tighten policy)
"v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:postmaster@example.com"

For and : the debate about blame is useful, but fixes are shared responsibility — vendors, hosting providers, mailbox operators and site admins all matter. Numbers make headlines, but measurable defenses (standards, filtering, patching, user awareness) are what actually reduce spam and the malicious attachments that follow.

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6031769 0 Newbie Poster

Do you suppose that MS genuinely don't realise that it is their history of shoddy (and sometimes non-existent) security practices that have resulted in this deluge or are they just playing the Gordon Brown card and steadfastly refusing to apologise as if it were really somebody else's fault?

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