CipherTrust statistics reveal a sharp rise in malicious message volumes, accounting for a 20 per cent increase in the number of emails sent globally in July. CipherTrust's research lab has also identified that image-based spam, which has increased by 200 per cent in the last three months, is now responsible for up to 30 per cent of all spam sent.

The major jump in the volume of overall spam coincides with new techniques employed by the spammers. Ever aware of the need to stay one foot ahead of the security companies, they are using randomised image-based stock spam to try and fool anti-spam filters. These graphically based messages avoid traditional content filtering techniques by not containing any words for them to scan - the message is build up of one or more images rather than traditional text. However, the use of the more advanced 'Trusted Source' and 'Message Profiler' technologies - tools that identify the reputation of both the sender and the message - allow administrators to block bulk mail without having to inspect the message for information.

Additionally, CipherTrust has identified that from July 31 to August 4, an average of 209 mail viruses were being sent, with banking Trojans and virus down loaders making up the bulk of the seven new virus outbreaks detected. Over 224,000 new zombies were detected in the same period, and a total of 6,986,210 new zombies in the month of July, originating mostly from China, the United States and Europe.

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