Universities Slammed by Spam

According to spam elimination company, Email Systems Universities are getting slammed by spam.

The report says that institutions of education are uniquely vulnerable to the onslaught of junk mail as they don't have the resources to deploy severs to block unwanted e-mail. I'm not sure how much sense this makes. Usually Universities run open-source software server-side. Reasonably useful free email filters are readily available for Linux.

Truly useful client-side solutions however typically do cost at least some money. In SpamButcher's case the registration cost is $29.95 with a free 21-day trial period.

There are no additional costs for updates to the filters or support.

Behind the increased level of spam are networks of compromised PC's - known as `bots' or 'zombies'. These systems are usually initially hit by spyware or worms which open them up to abuse by spammers.

The report by Email Systems generally indicates that spam is on the rise. This is in contradiction to another recent study by Brightmail.

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