Almost 30% of all emails received by Irish business email users last year were spam. One email in every ten contained a virus, according to the 2004 email security review by IE Internet.
IE Internet, a provider of managed email security services, says the most common virus strain detected by its filters last year was Zafi.B. Variants of the Netsky virus also impacted significantly on email users during 2004.
The MyDoom virus dominated IE Internet's statistics for the first two months of 2004, averaging 82% of all detected viruses for January and February.
The report also reveals that the rate of spam exceeded 30% in October 2004, an increase of almost 50% on the figure reported for the same time the previous year.
While the vast bulk of spam emails sent last year were from the US, the output of spam from other regions is increasing, especially from South Korea and China.
According to IE Internet's Managing Director Phelim O'Connell, the overall increase in spam and virus infection for 2004 can be attributed to the increasing co-operation between virus writers and spammers.
He said he expects to see a continuation of this level of co-operation between hackers and spammers throughout 2005.
