![\"Password-Hand3\"](\"http:\/\/hidefideas.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/password-hand3.jpg\")
As the ancient Chinese curse goes, \u201cmay you live in interesting times,\u201d an omen with a ring of truth to it, where spam is concerned. With the ongoing war on spam being won by the good guys<\/a> (if you believe the hype<\/a>, that is), multiple reports<\/a> suggesting that spam numbers are on the decline<\/a>, and a bevy of reports suggesting that spam is rebounding just as quickly as we knock it to the mat, it\u2019s hard to debate that these are, indeed, interesting times.<\/p>\nIn fact, a close relative to that ancient Chinese curse goes \u201cmay you get what you wish for:\u201d researchers pat themselves on the back for taking down high profile botnets; law enforcement agencies make sure the world knows it when the cuffs are slapped on some misbehaved child<\/a> who\u2019s an adult only<\/em> by virtue of chronological age; and Microsoft even offers an alternative<\/a> for spammers who would rather put their devious ways to good use than work at Wal-Mart. So if we have<\/em> gotten what we wished for \u2013 a vast reduction in spam \u2013 why haven\u2019t things gotten better?<\/p>\n There are four schools of thought about spam, so let\u2019s take a little quiz:<\/p>\n So, with so many schools to choose from, which one should you enroll in? If you\u2019re shrewd (and we know you are), you\u2019ve already concluded that the answer is E. All of the above. It\u2019s ludicrous to suggest that spam email is going away, and if you need a compelling argument, think the people cybercriminals are most likely to target. There are a ton of people out there who think Facebook is just a stock to avoid, but they most likely have email.<\/p>\n With all the ways spammers can suck you into a black hole, it\u2019s easy to see how we need to walk on eggshells when traversing the Internet. If anything is true in all the speculation that\u2019s been surrounding the state of spam in the past two years, it\u2019s that the Internet has become far more dangerous. In an article published by eWeek.com last week, a new report suggests that things aren\u2019t getting better. In fact, we may be encountering unprecedented threats, now that the spammers have settled in for the long haul.<\/p>\n The article<\/a> reports that, in the second quarter of 2012, spam emails were up 54 percent, 52 percent more malware was identified, phishing emails rose 169 percent, and that virus outbreaks as a result of email spam was up a staggering 90 percent.<\/p>\n Take a minute to soak up those numbers, because there\u2019s a disturbing trend occurring here. The primary purpose of malware is to infect, pure and simple. Whether it\u2019s a botnet or Trojan is of little concern, because once infection has occurred, a computer is subject to the whims of the attacker. Ostensibly, the purpose of infection is for financial gain, but who\u2019s to say what the attackers will do with their bright, shiny new zombie PC (or Mac<\/a>)?<\/p>\n If the numbers are to be believed, all that back-patting by researchers, Microsoft and law enforcement was probably for naught. It appears that all they\u2019ve managed to do was enable the cybercriminals, empowering them to become craftier, more diverse, and yes, probably even vengeful.<\/p>\nPop quiz, hotshot<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n
Destruction is just a mouse-click away<\/strong><\/h2>\n