Image Spam launches comeback tour – check local inboxes for dates and times

by Steve Ragan - May 6 2009, 18:54

Recent reports from IBM and AppRiver show a clear resurgence of image-based Spam. While not at the levels seen in 2006 and 2007, the early part of 2009 showed a strong comeback. As usual, most of the image Spam is pharmaceutical in nature, but there is still a good mix of other junk to contend with.

IBM said that, since March 20, it has watched as image-based Spam exploded, reaching peaks of five to 10 percent of all Spam. In April, that number climbed to the point that the image-based junk accounted for between 15 and 22 percent. At the same time, AppRiver reported that it blocked almost 600 million image-based junk e-mails.

The numbers are a reminder that you cannot keep playing the same cat and mouse game for long. In October of 2008, shortly after McColo was brought to its knees, image-based Spam accounted for just one percent of all junk mail moving around online -- just one percent. This shows that, while taking out a major hub for Spam distribution was a good thing and it did help, like a hydra, other hubs just took McColo’s place and picked up the slack. 

Now that image-based Spam is making a comeback, you would expect the Spammers to introduce of new sly tricks and techniques to help avoid detection and blocking, but that simply isn’t the case. Moreover, it’s the same old junk, only it’s gotten worse. It would appear that the Spammers are simply getting lazy in their old age.

For example, IBM notes, most of the messages do not contain any Web links that the user can click, they all have a random .com domain that relies heavily on numbers (123456.com), meaning the user has to visit the site by typing the domain name into the browser.

“So, why would the spammers return to an old technique especially when getting a successful bite requires a user to actually type the URL into the browser themselves? Perhaps they are trying to mask their URLs through these images. In their trial run near the end of March, did they see that some anti-spam systems were losing their edge when it came to image spam? We don’t think so. Are they simply running out of new ideas and rehashing old techniques? Maybe,” IBM said in a blog post on the issue.

“Regarding the content of the spam, there is only one major difference in comparison to the image spam of 2007. Two years ago, most spam focused on stock trading. With the financial crisis happening, stock spam probably isn't a lucrative option for spammers. The focus on drugs is possibly an attempt at preying on people that want to "feel better" during desperate times.”

Since the Spammers are apparently lazy, the best bet for users is to ensure that, on a business level, you are using a Spam filter of some sort. On a non-business level, there are several Spam blockers you can use.

That said, should you see this type of Spam, just delete it.

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