Since the project started in 2004, Project Honey Pot has seen 1 billion Spam messages in their traps. When the milestone email arrived on December 9, the project compiled some interesting data based on what they have seen over the years.
Project Honey Pot examines 1 billion spam messages. (IMG:J.Anderson)
The first interesting item of note is the estimation that for every Spam email the project received, 125,000 junk messages were sent to real victims. With this in mind, they equate this to mean that 125 trillion inbox clogging junk messages have been sent since the project started in 2004.
Location matters, and over the years the project has compiled tons of location related information. For example, they created a list of the best and worst locations for IT security by dividing the number of bots in a given location by the number if IT professionals within the same area. The results of this mathematical mashup name Finland as the best location for IT security and China as the worst. Interestingly, the U.S. ranked number six on the best list for those who are curious.
They kept close watch on bot related data as well, and the numbers they came up with are huge. In 2009, there were nearly 400,000 active bots doing something malicious on any given day.
“Because sending spam remains the primary use of bots, Project Honey Pot has a unique perspective on bot network activity. Since 2004, active bots have grown at a compound annual growth rate of more than 378%. In other words, the number of bots has nearly quadrupled ever year,” the project’s blog post on the data said.
When it comes to where the spammers are located, the U.S. is the top spot, followed by Spain, the Netherlands, the UAE, Hong Kong, and Romania.
There is a lot of great information on the project’s blog. Head here to check it out.
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