Alerts
Fake Microsoft Security Update
October 13, 2008
Malicious Spam Using Dramatic Subjects to Lure Users
July 7, 2008
Flash Player being exploited
May 29, 2008
TRACE Blog
Spam remains down
November 18, 2008Spam remains way down as three major botnets are still out of action.
Srizbi Stopped, for now
November 14, 2008The Srizbi botnet has stopped spamming but it's bots have been programmed to look for new control servers.
Huge Decrease in Spam
November 13, 2008There has been a huge decrease in spam after the company hosting control servers for several botnets was taken offline.
Federal Reserve phishing message leads to pornography.
November 11, 2008Phishing messages sent by the Srizbi botnet appears to be a pornographic advertisment.
US Election Spam
November 5, 2008Spammers are using the US presidential election result to entice users into installing malware
When do Mums learn to phish?
October 31, 2008An online parental-related retail and service provider website hosts a phishing landing page.
Phishing for Domains
October 30, 2008A phishing campaign from the Pushdo botnet attempts to trick Network Solutions customers into handing over their login details.
OVERVIEW - Week ending November 16, 2008
Spam as a Percentage of Email
This gauge represents spam as a percentage of total incoming email. The figure is derived from incoming email and other sources monitored by the TRACE team. Reports on the percentage of spam in email can vary wildly - anywhere from 30% to 90%. In fact the volume of spam fluctuates substantially from day to day and week to week. Also, different organizations and countries experience different volumes of spam. The TRACE team is currently seeing fluctuations between 75% to 95%.
Threat Statistics
Spam by Spambot Type
This chart is a proportional breakdown of spam received from each spambot type. Typically a small number of major botnets are responsible for the bulk of all spam.
Threat Resources
- White Paper:
TRACE Report July 2008 - White Paper:
Defense-in-Depth Anti-Spam Engine - White Paper:
Rise and Fall of Image Spam
(updated March 2008) - White Paper:
TRACE Report December 2007 - White Paper:
SpamCensor Explained - User Discussion:
Marshal Forums
About Trace
TRACE (Threat Research and Content Engineering) is a group of Marshal security analysts who constantly monitor and respond to Internet security threats. TRACE provides a service to Marshal customers as part of standard product maintenance. The service includes updates to Marshal's unique, proprietary anti-spam technology, SpamCensor. TRACE analyzes spam, phishing and Internet security trends and provides frequent automated updates to Marshal customers. TRACE also provides "Zero Day" security protection to secure Marshal customers against new email and virus exploits the day they emerge.
The TRACE Center is a sample of the data-gathering and technical analysis methods that Marshal employs.
We will be adding additional statistics and new threat monitors over time so please check back regularly for news, information and new content.
Feel free to email the TRACE Team with any questions you may have: 
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