Spam 2.0, Double the Spam

Worldwide spam volumes have doubled from last year, according to Ironport, a spam filtering firm. Spam mails now account for more than 9 of every 10 e-mail messages sent over the Internet.

Much of that flood is made up of a new breed of junk e-mail called image spam, in which the words of the advertisement are part of a picture, often fooling traditional spam detectors that look for telltale phrases. Image spam increased fourfold from last year and now represents 25 to 45 percent of all junk e-mail, depending on the day, Ironport says.