Commtouch Reports March Spam Trends: Sharp Rise In Financial-Fraud Related Spam; The Disturbing Trend Indicates Increasing Relation between Spammers and 'Hardcore Crime'.MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Commtouch(R) (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on :CTCHC), the developer of ground breaking RPD RPD Rapid RPD Radiation Protection Dosimetry RPD Rapid Product Development RPD Rochester Police Department RPD Recurrent Pattern Detection (Commtouch anti-spam engine) RPD Relative Percent Difference RPD Removable Partial Denture (TM) technology for real time anti-spam and zero-hour virus protection, today announced that financial fraud is becoming an increasingly significant aspect of global spam E-mail that is not requested. Also known as "unsolicited commercial e-mail" (UCE), "unsolicited bulk e-mail" (UBE), "gray mail" and just plain "junk mail," the term is both a noun (the e-mail message) and a verb (to send it). . The announcement was based on data from the Commtouch Spam Detection Center, which analyzed an·a·lyze tr.v. an·a·lyzed, an·a·lyz·ing, an·a·lyz·es 1. To examine methodically by separating into parts and studying their interrelations. 2. Chemistry To make a chemical analysis of. 3. hundreds of millions of spam messages in the month of March 2005. "Our analysis shows that financial fraud now accounts for 9 to 11% of global spam, up from 3 to 5% a year ago," said Oren Drori, director of product marketing at Commtouch. Drori also noted that this figure can reach 15% in peak months. Financial Fraud Resistant to Standard Spam Filters A software routine that deletes incoming spam or diverts it to a "junk" mailbox (see spam folder). Also called "spam blockers," spam filters are built into a user's e-mail program. ; Only Content-Agnostic Approaches Can Effectively Block It "The growing proportion of e-fraud shows that spam is more than just 'direct marketing gone bad' and attests to the growing sophistication so·phis·ti·cate v. so·phis·ti·cat·ed, so·phis·ti·cat·ing, so·phis·ti·cates v.tr. 1. To cause to become less natural, especially to make less naive and more worldly. 2. of financial fraud techniques," said Drori. "In cases where even educated recipients have difficulty distinguishing between standard business correspondence and fraudulent messages, it is next to impossible for spam filters to identify frauds by their content or format. Only filters that are independent of format and content can be effective." Most financial-fraud spam belongs to one of three categories: Phishing Pronounced "fishing," it is a scam to steal valuable information such as credit card and social security numbers, user IDs and passwords. Also known as "brand spoofing," an official-looking e-mail is sent to potential victims pretending to be from their ISP, bank or retail establishment. , stock-manipulation schemes, and 'Nigerian stings'. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Drori, stock manipulation Stock manipulation is a practice whereby owners of a company or others such as brokerage firms or investment companies take actions to increase or decrease the value of that stock, solely so they can buy or sell shares at a profit. schemes are most prevalent (83-92%), but phishing causes the largest financial losses. "Nigerian Sting" Fraud can be stranger than fiction, and the new breed of spam fraud includes a creative assortment of tall tales - many of them variations on the famous Nigerian Sting involving the desperate daughter of an African despot. Typically, these e-frauds convince recipients that they are helping extraordinarily wealthy but momentarily mo·men·tar·i·ly adv. 1. For a moment or an instant. 2. Usage Problem In a moment; very soon. 3. Moment by moment; progressively. trapped individuals - by enabling these strangers to make huge deposits into recipients' accounts. Needless to say, as soon as recipients send their account details via email, their accounts are immediately emptied. Pump&Dump: To Buy or Not to Buy To Buy or Not to Buy is a reality television series where Britons "try out" their dream houses, before actually purchasing them. The series started in 2003 and is currently running on BBC1. The episodes follow a set pattern. In Pump&Dump spam fraud, spammers invest in a specific stock and then "tip" millions of recipients, convincing them to invest in the same stock. When a critical mass of recipients buys in, the stock's value is artificially "pumped up". As soon as this happens, spammers "dump" their own shares, at a nice profit. Following this massive "dumping" the stock's value typically plummets, leaving the new investors smarting from the loss. The entire operation can take just a few minutes - long enough to cause a glitch A temporary or random hardware malfunction. It is possible that a bug in a program may cause the hardware to appear as if it had a glitch in it and vice versa. At times it can be extremely difficult to determine whether a problem lies within the hardware or the software. See glitch attack. in the stock value, and leave thousands a bit poorer than before. Most Pump&Dump schemes involve unknown and negligible stocks, in small stock exchanges. Some of the 'recommended' stocks belong to companies that have already ceased operation and were chosen by the spammers simply due to their web-based profiles and low trade-volume. Looking back at 2004 spam-promoted stocks, it is clear that in most cases their value has dropped by 60-95%. "Our advice is simple," says Commtouch's Drori. "Ignore any tips you receive from unknown sources. If a stranger recommends a specific stock, it is probably to promote his own interests, not yours." Phishing: Don't Let Them Bait You Industry analysts agree that Phishing continues to be the single most dangerous type of email fraud, accounting for larger financial losses than any other scheme. Phishing leverages recipients' natural inclination inclination, in astronomy, the angle of intersection between two planes, one of which is an orbital plane. The inclination of the plane of the moon's orbit is 5°9' with respect to the plane of the ecliptic (the plane of the earth's orbit around the sun). to cooperate with their own financial institutions (credit card companies, banks, electronic wallet See digital wallet. services). Typically, a message that looks perfectly authentic requests recipients to click on a hyperlink and type their secure access code. Many recipients follow these instructions - giving fraud spammers free access to their accounts. In some cases, their account is emptied within minutes. In others, only a modest amount is charged (say a one-time $50 charge), and victims may remain oblivious to the robbery. Legitimate financial institutions are extremely unlikely to request secure access information via email. For your protection, always verify any such email request by calling your financial service provider directly. Financial Fraud: 10.40% of Global Spam The Commtouch Lab reports that during the month of March, financial fraud accounted for 10.40% of global spam. The only category more prevalent than e-fraud was drug sales (22.40% of all spam). Merchandising of Viagra, software and pornography pornography Depiction of erotic behaviour intended to cause sexual excitement. The word originally signified any work of art or literature depicting the life of prostitutes. each account for less than 10% of spam, and mortgage/refinancing offers totaled 9.14% of spam. Top spam topics for March 2005: Drugs 22.40% Financial Fraud 10.40% Viagra 9.62% Mortgage/Refinance 9.14% Software Sale 6.87% Porn 6.65% Geography of Spam in March 2005: According to the Commtouch Lab, the dubious honor of being the world's largest spammer has been in the hands of the U.S. for over a year - but in March 2005 South Korea claimed this position. During that month, a full 35.41% of global spam originated in South Korea, compared with 19.82% from the U.S. Spammers in the European Union European Union (EU), name given since the ratification (Nov., 1993) of the Treaty of European Union, or Maastricht Treaty, to the European Community disseminate dis·sem·i·nate v. dis·sem·i·nat·ed, dis·sem·i·nat·ing, dis·sem·i·nates v.tr. 1. To scatter widely, as in sowing seed. 2. roughly as much spam as those in the U.S. The Source of Spam - Breakdown by Country: South Korea 35.41% United States 19.81% China 13.57% France 4.37% Spain 3.06% Japan 2.85% Canada 2.27% United Kingdom 1.80% Countries Hosting Spammers' Websites The vast majority of spammers (63.70%) continue to host their web sites in China, reports the Commtouch Lab. Brazil and the Russian Federation Russian Federation: see Russia. are also popular web hosts among spammers: China 63.70% Brazil 11.34% Russian Federation 9.67% Hong Kong 9.40% United 3.96% Taiwan 0.91% South Korea 0.53% Domains Used by Spammers As for networking services, spammers continue to prefer the large free-email providers, such as Yahoo and Hotmail: yahoo.com 11.4% hotmail.com 5.8% msn.com 4.5% shaw.ca 1.6% o2.pl 1.7% About Commtouch Commtouch Software Ltd. (Nasdaq:CTCHC - News) is dedicated to protecting and preserving the integrity of the world's most important communications tool -- email. A global developer and provider of proprietary anti-spam solutions, Commtouch has an installed base of over 25 million users. The company's core technologies, including RPD(TM) - Recurrent Pattern Detection, reflect Commtouch's 14 years of experience developing messaging software. Commtouch solutions are incorporated into OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) The rebranding of equipment and selling it. The term initially referred to the company that made the products (the "original" manufacturer), but eventually became widely used to refer to the organization that buys the products and applications and are also sold through channels and resellers. Commtouch is headquartered in Netanya, Israel and has a subsidiary in Mountain View, CA. For more information, see: www.commtouch.com. For coverage of Commtouch technology by industry analysts such as IDC and Osterman Research, see: http://www.commtouch.com/site/ResearchLab/research.asp This press release contains forward-looking statements forward-looking statement A projected financial statement based on management expectations. A forward-looking statement involves risks with regard to the accuracy of assumptions underlying the projections. , including projections about our business, within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. For example, statements in the future tense future tense n. A verb tense expressing future time. Noun 1. future tense - a verb tense that expresses actions or states in the future future , and statements including words such as "expect," "plan," "estimate," "anticipate," or "believe" are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on information available to us at the time of the release; we assume no obligation to update any of them. The statements in this release are not guarantees of future performance and actual results could differ materially from our current expectations as a result of numerous factors, including the failure to satisfy the conditions imposed by the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Panel for the continued listing of Commtouch shares on The Nasdaq SmallCap Market; business conditions and growth or deterioration de·te·ri·o·ra·tion n. The process or condition of becoming worse. in the Internet market, commerce and the general economy, both domestic as well as international; fewer than expected new-partner relationships; fewer than expected license agreements resulting from Commtouch's exclusive rights to market DCC (1) (Direct Cable Connection) A Windows 95/98 feature that allows PCs to be cabled together for data transfer. DCC actually sets up a network connection between the two machines. ; competitive factors including pricing pressures; technological developments, and products offered by competitors; the ability of our OEM partners to successfully penetrate markets with products integrated with Commtouch technology; a slower than expected acceptance rate for real time AV solutions in general and the Commtouch virus detection engine in particular; availability of qualified staff for expansion; and technological difficulties and resource constraints encountered in developing new products, such as the Commtouch virus detection engine, as well as those risks described in the text of this press release or the company's Annual Reports on Form 20-F and reports on Form 6-K, which are available through www.sec.gov. Recurrent Pattern Detection and RPD are trademarks and Commtouch is a registered trademark of Commtouch Software Ltd. U.S. Patent No. 6,330,590 is owned by Commtouch. |
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