Spam could cost billions
2003-11-21 08:11
Geneva - An estimated 50% of all e-mails in circulation by the end of the year could be unsolicited spam, which would cost as much as $20.5bn in wasted technical resources, a report by Unctad warned on Thursday.
In addition, digital attacks over the internet were on the rise with the United States, which was hit hardest in 2002 followed by Brazil and Britain, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) said in an annual study, quoting data from private research firms.
Internet security problems "have acquired serious dimensions, and spam is now proliferating at an alarming rate", according to the E-Commerce and Development Report 2003.
Quoting statistics by consultancy firm MessageLabs, Unctad said about 25% of all e-mails in January were junk, rising to 36% in March and it warned they could hit 50% before the end of December.
The majority of spam victims were in North America, which also generated the most junk mail - about 58.4% - the study said.
Anti-spam legislation
To combat the problem, a growing number of governments were implementing anti-spam legislation, it noted.
Turning to the problem of cyber attacks, such as the damaging Blaster worm virus that struck in August, Unctad said they undermined public confidence in the internet, particularly in developing countries.
Citing statistics compiled by mi2g, a digital risk management company, Unctad said that more than 91 000 digital attacks occured in the first half of this year, up from around 87 500 cases recorded in the whole of 2002.
Last year the United States suffered 32 434 digital strikes, while 7 294 cases took place in Brazil and 5 589 in Britain, the report said.
Developing countries were the main victims of attacks against government online systems in 2002, with China the worst hit, recording 187 incidents.
As for the origin of the cyber-strikes, 80% came from just 10 countries, with the United States again topping the list, comprising 35.4% of the volume last year, followed by South Korea and China.
In the digital economy, Unctad said, law enforcement agencies would have to adapt to the new challenges and "ensure the rule of law on the internet".
Risks must be identified and governments should co-operate with each other to eradicate the problem, it advised.
The recommendations formed part of a much broader 203-page Unctad study on e-commerce.