India named as the top source of global spam in Q3 2011

India has been named the largest source of spam messages in the world for the third quarter of 2011.

According to Kaspersky Lab's spam report, more than 50 per cent of all spam messages came from only six countries, with India topping the list at 14.8 per cent of such messages. Indonesia was on the second spot at 10.6 per cent, while Brazil remained at the third position 9.65 per cent. Peru (6.65 per cent), South Korea (5.85 per cent) and Ukraine (3.7 per cent) also made to the top six list.

The report also says that the top 10 sources of spam messages were situated in South America, Asia and Eastern Europe. "This is due to the fact that there are numerous users in these countries and they are, for the most part, not very experienced when it comes to IT security. This makes them a soft target for cybercriminals spreading spam-bots," the report points out.

The Kaspersky report also highlighted that all GCC countries accounted for only 1.33 per cent of the spam messaging. According to the report, the low numbers are due to the less number of users and stringent vigilance of IT in these nations.