Spam Volumes Decreased After the Spamit Closure

To decrease the persistent amount of spam e-mail, Spamit has shut down its doors; considerably reducing global spam volumes, as reported by eweek on 6th Oct. 2010.

Spamit was the biggest fraud pharmacy affiliate program that attacked many netizens with spam advertising pharmaceutical products during the past so many years. The reduction in spam volume have been observed since 1st Oct. 2010, when spamit.com announced that it will not further pay any affiliates to endorse its online pharmacy websites, as reported by Krebsonsecurity on 4th Oct. 2010.

Security experts stated that on 3rd Oct. 2010 spam relay from both the Rustock and Cutwail botnets decreased considerably, as did spam originating from other unfamiliar sources.

Commenting on the matter, Dan Bleaken, Senior malware Data Analyst at Symantec Hosted Services stated that they thought that few bots were circulating spam for both Cutwail and Rustock bots on that day, sourcing the reduction in spam output, as reported by PC Authority on 11th Oct. 2010.

Commenting on the issue, Henry Stern, Senior Security Researcher at Ironport systems said that around two-thirds of all spam was linked to pharmaceutical products, and a great volume of that was associated to Canadian Pharmacy websites and other linked brands, which sold various drugs/pills for treatment of various physical and psychological disorders, as reported by PC Authority on Oct 11, 2010.

Stern further stated that ever since Oct. 4 2010, there had been no indications of spam advertising 'Canadian Pharmacy', as reported by eweek on 6th Oct. 2010.

Explaining the reason behind reduction in spam volume, Bradley Anstis, Vice President of Technical Strategy at M86 stated that the most probable reason behind decline in spam volume was the person operating Rustock bot rented the botnet to so many Spamit.com affiliates and most of those affiliates had not yet shifted to other pharmacy affiliate programs, as reported by Krebsonsecurity on 4TH October 2010.

However, security experts differ on exactly which botnet might be facing problems or which botnet is controlled back that has led to a reduction in spam e-mails.

Related article: Spam Scam Bags a Scottish Connection

» SPAMfighter News - 10/20/2010