Half of e-mails to Asia-Pacific are spam

Spam made up 50% of all monitored e-mail traffic targeting the Asia-Pacific region in the second half of last year, a report on internet security threats said on Monday.

The amount was a decrease from the first six months of 2005 when 61% of e-mail was classified as spam, according to the report by Symantec, the largest security software company.

The statistics do not necessarily signify a decrease in the unsolicited e-mail attack reports.

“As was the case during the first six months of 2005, this decline is likely due to the fact that network and security administrators are using internet protocol filtering and traffic shaping to control spam,” said the report published in The Business Times.

Some 56% of all spam received worldwide originated in the United States, Symantec said. China was the second highest country of origin with 12%, followed by South Korea with 9% and Canada at 7%.

The most common type of spam detected was related to health services and products, followed by commercial products and financial services.