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Firstly, it allows the novice to create a web page that comprises entirely of a string of random letters and numbers with relative ease. This results in a URL that is far more difficult to block than most when using bog-standard signature-based anti-spam tools.
Secondly, and a lot more worryingly so, is the indication that the 'Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart' or CAPTCHA entry validation system has been pwned.
"Google Sites is yet another way that spammers have programmatically defeated CAPTCHA mechanisms" Mark Sunner, Chief Security Analyst at MessageLabs insists "While Google Sites spam accounts for only 1 percent of all spam currently, we anticipate that this technique's popularity will rival that of its predecessors, Google Docs, Calendar and Pages spam. If this is the case, then we may see spam levels increase in the months ahead."
Not the best of news, it has to be said. But then neither is the fact that the number of new malicious websites blocked each and every day in July increased by a whopping 91 percent from 2,076 compared to June. This takes the daily total up to a rather depressing average of 3,968 new sites.
So what is to blame? Other than the obvious dirty scumbag spammers answer, is the equally obvious SQL injection attacks one. "An emerging theme for threats this month seems to be new variations on old attack methods" Sunner told us.
Want to know which country is the most spammed in the world? Find out on page 2...
CONTINUES
So which country was the most spammed in July 2008? All will be revealed in a moment.
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The global ratio of spam in email traffic from new and previously unknown bad sources was 75.1 percent (1 in 1.33 emails), a decrease of 1.4 percent since June.
The global ratio of email-borne viruses in email traffic from new and previously unknown bad sources was one in 148.2 emails (.67 percent), a decrease of 0.07 percent since June.
A total of 3 percent of email-borne malware contained links to malicious sites, a decrease of 17.3 percent since June.
Phishing activity rose by .19 percent compared with the previous month. One in 180.6 (.55 percent) emails comprised some form of phishing attack.
Spam levels in the UK reached 69.9 percent in July and 74.6 percent in Canada. Germany's spam rate reached 70 percent and spam rose to 70.6 percent in the Netherlands. Spam levels in Australia were 64.1 percent, 72.9 percent in China and 67.8 percent in Japan.
The largest increase of .48 percent in virus activity was observed in Canada where virus levels of 1 in 80.7 put the country in third place for July.
Virus levels for the US were 1 in 243.7 and 1 in 110.3 for the UK and 1 in 214.8 for Germany. In Australia, virus levels were 1 in 303.1 and 1 in 378.6 for Japan.
And the most spammed country was...
Switzerland remained the most spammed country with levels reaching 84.2 percent of all email. The largest increase in spam levels this month was observed in the United States where it rose by 5.9 percent to 79.8 percent.
