BSNL tops list of spam sources: Study

[mmadhankumar]

State-run BSNL topped the list of spam sources in a study which found that about 50% of all junk mail, while the most crime-ridden network was Spectranet in Nigeria as 62% of addresses controlled by that ISP were found to be sending out spasm with criminal intent.

The study, conducted by Giovane Cesar Moreira Moura, a researcher in Holland, found that just 20 internet service providers accounted for bulk of spasm.

Moura has classified these as "bad neighbourhoods" because, like the real world, they were places where malicious activity was more likely, the BBC said quoting the study. The survey of more than 42,000 ISPs tried to map the Internet's "bad neighbourhoods" to help zero in on the sources of malicious mail.

Of the 42,201 ISPs studied about 50% of all junk mail, phising attacks and other malicious messages came from just 20 networks, Moura found. Many of these networks were concentrated in India, Vietnam and Brazil. Moura found networks involved in malicious activity also tended to specialise in one particular sort of malicious message or attack.

The study showed that majority of phising attacks came from ISPs based in the United States. "By contrast, spammers tend to favour Asian ISPs. Indian ISP BSNL topped the list of spam sources in the study," BBC said.



Read More: BSNL tops list of spam sources: Study - The Times of India