Alerts
Malicious Spam Using Dramatic Subjects to Lure Users
July 7, 2008
Flash Player being exploited
May 29, 2008
SQL Injection Attacks
May 7, 2008
TRACE Blog
Malicious spam campaign continues
July 23, 2008The malicious spam campaign from the Rustock botnet is gaining in volume and intensity.
The Irresistible Angelina Jolie
July 17, 2008Numerous different Angelina Jolie malicious spam campaigns are a 'feature' of this week's spam.
Pushdo Sends Fake UPS Invoices
July 14, 2008The Pushdo botnet has been sending emails asking recipients to print an attached UPS receipt which is in fact an executable file.
Storm Celebrates American Independance Day
July 4, 2008The Storm botnet has begun sending spam with an Independence Day theme.
The Great Web Browser Threat
July 3, 2008Over 45% of Internet users are at risk when browsing the web, according to new research.
Srizbi and Rustock
June 25, 2008Srizbi and Rustock are both sending links to 'PornTube' websites that install Rustock spam bots.
Storm uses earthquake hook
June 20, 2008The latest Storm spam campaign uses an earthquake in China theme to entice users to download its Trojan.
OVERVIEW - Week ending July 20, 2008
Spam as a Percentage of Email
This gauge represents spam as a percentage of total incoming email. The figure is derived from incoming email and other sources monitored by the TRACE team. Reports on the percentage of spam in email can vary wildly - anywhere from 30% to 90%. In fact the volume of spam fluctuates substantially from day to day and week to week. Also, different organizations and countries experience different volumes of spam. The TRACE team is currently seeing fluctuations between 75% to 95%.
Threat Statistics
Spam by Spambot Type
This chart is a proportional breakdown of spam received from each spambot type. Typically a small number of major botnets are responsible for the bulk of all spam. The Srizbi botnet continues to be extremely active, maintaining its dominant position. Note that the botnet previously known as Hacktool.spammer has been renamed to Bobax, the more common name for this botnet.
Threat Resources
- White Paper:
Defense-in-Depth Anti-Spam Engine - White Paper:
Rise and Fall of Image Spam
(updated March 2008) - White Paper:
TRACE Report December 2007 - White Paper:
TRACE Report July 2007 - White Paper:
SpamCensor Explained - User Discussion:
Marshal Forums
About Trace
TRACE (Threat Research and Content Engineering) is a group of Marshal security analysts who constantly monitor and respond to Internet security threats. TRACE provides a service to Marshal customers as part of standard product maintenance. The service includes updates to Marshal's unique, proprietary anti-spam technology, SpamCensor. TRACE analyzes spam, phishing and Internet security trends and provides frequent automated updates to Marshal customers. TRACE also provides "Zero Day" security protection to secure Marshal customers against new email and virus exploits the day they emerge.
The TRACE Center is a sample of the data-gathering and technical analysis methods that Marshal employs.
We will be adding additional statistics and new threat monitors over time so please check back regularly for news, information and new content.
Feel free to email the TRACE Team with any questions you may have: 
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