The United States is still the king of spam, topping Sophos' "dirty dozen" list of spam offending countries. However, for the first time the US accounted for less than a quarter of total spam reported.
In Q4 of 2005, the US was the source of 24.5 percent of reported spam, with China coming in second at 22.3 percent. While still coming in third, South Korea's spam output dropped dramatically, down to 9.7. The fact that nations on four different continents are identified indicates the usage of infected "zombie computers" which could be used to evade legal penalties. Zombie computers relayed 60 percent of all spam by estimates.
The spam reduction in the US can most likely be attributed to harsher penalties imposed on convicted spammers and the greater information sharing between ISPs.
News source: Techtree.com
