Fergie's Tech Blog

McColo Takedown: Changes in International Spam Distribution and Asprox Botnet Activity

Ralf Iffert, John Kuhn, and Holly Stewart write on the IBM Frequency X Blog:

Since the takedown of the California-based web hoster McColo, we've noticed some significant changes in our spam and asprox-related botnet activity.

From a spam perspective, everyone has noted the overall drop. After the Nov. 11th takedown, spam volume in our spam traps was down to around 25% of previous levels. More interesting, perhaps, is the marked change we noticed in the origins of spam (the country location of the spam bot, generally).

The United States has, for years, maintained a top spot in the spam origin list. Six days before the takedown, it was in the number one spot.

Six days after the takedown, spam production coming out of the US was reduced to a mere 14% of its original capacity. So, it wasn't a terrible surprise when the US finally lost its top spot on the list on this sixth day after the takedown.

posted by Fergie @ 11/25/2008 01:32:00 PM