Spam: I knew it was bad, but those numbers are stunning

IT Facts.biz (which is a must use reference for any IT-related statistic) provides some stunning numbers relative to spam volume.

1- Experts say businesses and governments around the world will spend $41 billion this year to defend their computer systems against electronic spam. In China spam account for half of all the e-mail. Spam is expected to account for about 67% of all e-mails worldwide this year, up several-fold from 8% in 2001, according to the United Nations.

2- IDC estimates that spam comprises about 38% of all e-mails sent in 2004 in North America, up 2% YTY. In 2002 spam comprised 24% of North American traffic. 31 billion e-mails are sent daily, according to IDC. The number of spam sent on an average day is 11 bln, compared with 4.5 bln in 2002. In comparison, the number of person-to-person emails currently sent each day and in 2002 is 12 bln and 10.5 bln, respectively.

Also, Future Now points to statistics collected by USA-based Postini, regarding spam and virus activity. Postini, one of several provider of email protection solutions, claims over 4000 customers worldwide. Quick excerpt:

85% of all email traffic Postini filters on behalf of its clients is spam related.

3% of all emails carry a virus

50% of smtp connections are attempts to validate e-mail addresses, in order to add them to spammers lists. You can learn about Directory Harvest Attacks (DHAs) here.

Geographic repartition of virus and spam activity: