Most spam watchers, including MessageLabs, have noted large spikes in spam volume in the last three months of 2006. From September to October, for instance, MessageLabs tracked a 13% increase in the percentage of all mail pegged as spam.
The techniques pioneered by SpamThru, which first appeared in October, will be applied by more spammers in 2007, Wood predicts.
MessageLabs is also tracking several other spam trends it believes will bear fruit for criminals next year.
"Phishing has really taken over," he says. "As a proportion of the traffic in malicious e-mail, phishing now accounts for 68.6% of the total." At the beginning of 2006, the rate was only 10.6%. Attackers have ditched virus and worm development and replaced that with increasingly sophisticated phishing campaigns, some of which are extremely targeted. "People who were creating viruses and Trojans are shifting to phishing. They're using very personal information, such as mail codes of zip codes or addresses, which make the phish much more compelling."
Wood also worries about a boost in "ransomware," the practice where criminals gain access to a computer, encrypt some or all of its data files, and then send e-mails demanding payment in return for the key that unlocks the documents.
Subsea cable alternatives can provide a level of comfort for those concerned about disruptions. Realistically, they will continue to play a small, but critical role in the short term.
Maintaining existing network infrastructures often incurs huge technical debt before newer technologies are adopted over time.
Amid ongoing regional uncertainties, telecom infrastructure in the Middle East has expand to include terrestrial low-latency network infrastructure, which offers resilience and agility in navigating political complexities without relying solely on undersea networks.
