Nearly All Mail Is Spam According to Barracuda Networks

In the early 1990s when the Internet began to explode into mainstream use no spam was to be found in anyone's inbox. By 2001, 5 percent of all email was spam. In 2007 we find that at least 90 percent and perhaps as much as 95 percent of all email is spam, according to Barracuda Networks. The company based their findings on analysis of over 1 billion daily email messages sent to 50,000+ customers worldwide.

People have raised their voices to government about the ever-growing problem and their cries finally were heard. In 2004, when approximately 70 percent of all email was spam, the US government's new CAN-SPAM Act took affect, which was designed to make it illegal to send unwanted email and make it possible to punish spammers severely. But the Act seems to have no significant impact. Three years later both individuals and businesses are still having to get rid of spam on their own.

"The spam war is a continuous battle between spammers and security vendors," said Dean Drako, president and CEO of Barracuda Networks. "Security vendors now require 24-by-7 defense operations to continuously monitor the Internet for new spam trends and distribute new defensive solutions immediately."

Barracuda also surveyed 261 people about their views on unwanted advertising. Not so surprisingly, 57 percent said that spam is worst form, 31 percent said postal junk mail irked them most, an 12 percent cited telemarketing as their biggest sore spot.