IT Security Management: How to stop spam – just 5 per cent of emails are not spam

Posted by Gareth Everson on 26th January, 2010. Communications & IT.

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Spam Survey 2009 has revealed that less than 5% of all email traffic is delivered to mailboxes.

For businesses with a keen interest in IT security management and how to stop spam, the annual status report produced by the EU ‘cyber security’ Agency – ENISA (the European Network and Information Security Agency) will make grim reading. The report looks at spam budgets, impact of spam and spam management. Since last year, no significant progress is being reported in the fight against spam. In last year’s report, 6% of emails were delivered to inboxes as clean; down to just 5% in this year’s report.

IT Security Management: How to Stop Spam

IT Security Management - Dr Udo Helmbrecht

The survey targeted email service providers of different types and sizes, who between them manage 80 million mailboxes. The report highlights some key IT security management considerations. ISPs consider spam prevention as a competitive advantage to attract and retain customers. IT managers with a focus on how to stop spam should see this as an opportunity to select carefully. A third of very large email providers dedicate anti-spam budgets of in excess of Euro 1 Million per year.

The Executive Director of ENISA, Dr Udo Helmbrecht concludes:

“Spam remains an unnecessary, time consuming and costly burden for Europe. Given the number of spam messages observed, I can only conclude more dedicated efforts must be undertaken. Email providers should be better at monitoring spam and identifying the source.”

Over half of all ISP’s implement the following mechanisms: blacklisting, content filtering, sender authentication, blacklisting of URI’s and greylisting. The report details a range of other areas that are used to stop spam. With IT security management at the fore of many IT budgets in 2010, the question of how to stop spam is likely to be a key differentiator as businesses choose their ISP relationships this year.

Spam Survey 2009 has revealed that less than 5% of all email traffic is delivered to mailboxes.

For businesses with a keen interest in IT security management and how to stop spam, the annual status report produced by the EU ‘cyber security’ Agency – ENISA (the European Network and Information Security Agency) will make grim reading. No significant progress is being reported in the fight against spam. The report looks at spam budgets, impact of spam and spam management.

The survey targeted email service providers of different types and sizes, and received replies from 100 respondents from 26 of the 27 EU Member States and who between them manage 80 million mailboxes.

The survey analyses how e-mail service providers are working on how to stop spam in their networks, and identifies the state of art in the fight against spam.

The report highlights some key IT security management considerations. In last year’s report, 6% of emails were delivered to inboxes as clean; down to just 5% in this year’s report. ISPs consider spam prevention as a competitive advantage to attract and retain customers and a third of very large email providers dedicate anti-spam budgets of in excess of Euro 1 Million per year.

The Executive Director of ENISA, Dr Udo Helmbrecht concludes:

“Spam remains an unnecessary, time consuming and costly burden for Europe. Given the number of spam messages observed, I can only conclude more dedicated efforts must be undertaken. Email providers should be better at monitoring spam and identifying the source. Policy-makers and regulatory authorities should clarify the conflicts between spam-filtering, privacy, and obligation to deliver.”

Over half of all ISP’s implement the following mechanisms: blacklisting, content filtering, sender authentication, blacklisting of URI’s and greylisting. The report details a range of other areas that are used to stop spam. With IT security management at the fore of many IT budgets in 2010, the question of how to stop spam may is likely to be a key differentiator as businesses choose their ISP relationships this year.