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Size and Cost of the Problem
Steve AtkinsSpamCon Foundation
Word to the Wise
So… How bad is it? 4% don’t find spam annoying 96% find it annoying, or worse
That’s 161,000,000 US end users Or 628,000,000 end users
worldwide
End users are really annoyed
AOL users reported 4,000,000 pieces of spam on February 20th
On March 5th, they reported 5,500,000 pieces of spam
It’s going to get worse - AOL
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
20-Feb 5-Mar 20-Mar 5-Apr 20-Apr 5-May 20-May
5-Jun 20-Jun 5-Jul 20-Jul 5-Aug 20-Aug 5-Sep
Measured
Predicted
More email, more spam
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
SpamEmail
More email, yet more spam
0
50
100
150
200
250
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
SpamEmail
Ridiculous amounts of spam
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
140000
160000
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
SpamEmail
What does it cost? $30-50/yr in direct costs to every
end user
What does it cost? $30-50/yr in direct costs to every
end user $730/yr in lost productivity for
every employee
What does it cost? $30-50/yr in direct costs to every
end user $730/yr in lost productivity for
every employee $8,900,000,000/yr total cost to US
corporations
Receiving spam costs? $30-50/yr in direct costs to every
end user $730/yr in lost productivity for every
employee $8,900,000,000/yr total cost to US
corporations $650,000,000 this year in anti-spam
and content filtering products
Receiving spam costs? $30-50/yr in direct costs to every
end user $730/yr in lost productivity for
every employee $8,900,000,000/yr total cost to US
corporations $650,000,000 this year in anti-
spam and content filtering products $1-2/spam in lost productivity
Costs to a spammers ISP? A dialup provider estimates $2,000
- $10,000 to deal with a single spamming dialup customer
Costs to a spammers ISP? A dialup provider estimates $2,000
- $10,000 to deal with a single spamming dialup customer
A large end user ISP estimates $8 to handle each incoming complaint
Costs to a spammers ISP? A dialup provider estimates $2,000
- $10,000 to deal with a single spamming dialup customer
A large end user ISP estimates $8 to handle each incoming complaint
A large end user ISP may receive hundreds of thousands or millions of complaints a month
Profits to the spammer The spam-related pornography business
is estimated at $3,200,000,000 in 2002
The Arizona AG seized $30,000,000 from one “grow 1-3 inches” spam group
Around 70% of spam has illegal content
Al Ralsky
Al Ralsky
200 mailservers
Al Ralsky
200 mailservers 140,000,000 / hour
Al Ralsky
200 mailservers 140,000,000 / hour 3,360,000,000 / day
Al Ralsky
200 mailservers 140,000,000 / hour 3,360,000,000 / day 23,520,000,000 /
week
Al Ralsky
200 mailservers 140,000,000 / hour 3,360,000,000 / day 23,520,000,000 /
week 1,226,400,000,000 /
year
Al Ralsky
1,226,400,000,000 / yearAt $1/spam that’s Nearly 5 years output of the US mint A pile of dollar bills a third of the way to the
moon Nearly one fifth of the US national debt A line of dollar bills from the earth to the sun
a quarter of the way back
A Freemail Provider 80% of incoming mail blocked at
the router Cost of spam still nearly
$12,000/mo
A Freemail Provider 80% of incoming mail blocked at
the router Cost of spam still nearly
$12,000/mo If the IP based blocking weren’t
used then the cost of spam would increase to $180,000 - $324,000/mo
A Hosting Provider
A spammer providing $9,500/mo revenue
A Hosting Provider
A spammer providing $9,500/mo revenue
Initial blacklisting blocks $16,500/mo of innocent customers
A Hosting Provider
A spammer providing $9,500/mo revenue
Initial blacklisting blocks $16,500/mo of innocent customers
Second stage blacklisting blocks $38,500/mo of innocent customers
Indirect Costs 15% of solicited email doesn’t
reach recipients mailboxes Mail blocking by imperfect mail
filters causes significant losses to legitimate business use of email
The deluge of spam also causes significant losses
In Summary There’s a lot of spam It’s causing massive costs It’s getting worse It’s going to keep getting worse
until the problem is alleviated or the mail system collapses
That’s all, folks!
Steve [email protected]
http://word-to-the-wise.com/(follow the whitepapers link)
http://spamcon.org/
