MessageStream Looks Back at 2009's Anti-Spam Battle

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MessageStream, the leading provider of hosted email anti-spam services in the UK, looks back on just how much the battle against spam intensified during 2009.

Kingston-upon-Hull, MessageStream, the leading provider of hosted email anti-spam services in the UK, looks back on just how much the battle against spam intensified during 2009.

MessageStream has released figures to show the devastating increase of spam through email correspondence. According to MessageStream, 79% of all emails were spam - a 75% increase on last year's figures. Spam levels dropped to 71% at the beginning of the year, due in part to the shutting down of the spam-linked McColo US-based ISP, but spam levels soon picked up again and steadily increased throughout the rest of the year.

As a response, MessageStream's spam capture rate increased from 97% in May to 99.5% in November. These figures are from the independent organisation, Virus Bulletin, and were gathered during their highly-respected VBSpam tests.
"It's certainly been a busy year for the spammers, as they've increased their output significantly since the McColo switch-off. Inboxes are once again filling up with the junk that's been pumped out, especially in the build-up to Christmas," said Nick Marshall, Managing Director of Giacom World Networks Ltd, the company behind MessageStream.

"As businesses struggle with first-generation Anti-Spam products, this continuous increase in spam means there's a new wave of Anti-Spam adoption - to second-generation hosted Anti-Spam. This year we've seen a significant take-up from businesses with on-site Anti-Spam which is no longer capable of dealing with the increased tide. They're turning to hosted services such as MessageStream and getting far better results, whilst also reducing costs.

"In response to this, our Anti-Spam Technologists and Network Team have worked tirelessly in 2009 to increase our capacity and spam-capture rate to an incredible 99.5%. This really is an outstanding achievement which we're very proud of, especially in light of the added volume."

For more information about MessageStream, visit www.messagestream.com or phone 0800 075 5577