Spamming list - US at the top

According to the most recent "Dirty Dozen" report from security firm Sophos, the United States is the nation that leads the world in terms of how much spam passes through its e-mail networks.

Some interesting facts:
1. United States - 23.2% of world spamming.
2. China - 20%
3. South Korea - 7.5%

• While the United States accounts for the highest spam output as a country, together China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan account for almost half of the worldwide spam output, making Asia the top offending continent with 40.2 percent of all spam.
• Europe surpassed third-place North America, rising to the second position among continents, with a marked rise from the first quarter of 2006 due to increased zombie activity.
• South America ranked fourth with 5.5 percent while Australia and Africa tied for fifth with 0.7 percent each.

How:
The vast majority of spam is relayed by "zombies," also known as botnet computers, which have been hijacked by Trojan horses, worms and viruses, according to Sophos. Once the hackers take control of infected computers, cyber criminals can use them to blast out spam messages.

Legal implication so far:
Although there have been a few high-profile prosecutions of spammers, the spammers' risk versus reward analysis weighs heavy on the reward side.

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