Google: Botnets Generate Increased Spam Volume In 2023 Q1

Botnets cranked out more spam and larger individual files containing spam in the first quarter of this year, according to the latest report from Postini, Google's e-mail filtering and security service. Despite the best efforts of security software developers and the mostly successful efforts to neutralize especially destructive botnets, such as Mariposa, Zeus and Waledac, Google's data centers reported a 30 percent increase in the size of individual spam messages at the end of March.

"This recent spate of botnet takedowns has not had a dramatic impact on spam levels," Gopal Shah, a member of Google's Postini services team, wrote in a blog posting.

"Although spam and virus levels did fall below Q409 highs, reports from Google's global analytics show that spam levels held relatively steady over the course" of the first quarter, he added.

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