2008 was a record year for spam and viruses, according to figures released on Monday (12 January) by managed security firm Network Box Ltd, who are due to launch a new anti-spam system this year.
According to the company's estimates, businesses in the UK were on average required to block: 1.2m spam messages; 44,000 e-mail-borne viruses; 1.3m attempted intrusion attacks; 6.3m attempted firewall hacks; and access to nearly 500,000 blacklisted websites.
Around 2.7m signatures were released by the company in 2008, as part of 16,800 PUSH updates, to protect against new malware threats.
Network Box also said that its 'eMail Relationship' system is due to launch in early 2009, making it 'virtually impossible' for spammers to use their existing databases. The new system will offer customers improvements on existing spam detection technologies by analysing not only content and IP address, but by applying learning from e-mail user behaviour and relationships, to understand which e-mails are welcomed by the user and which are unsolicited spam.
No financial details were disclosed.
