No One Has Any Idea How Much Work Email Is Spam

Can we just say, for the record, that no one actually has a good handle on how much spam is out there? This is absolutely true when it comes to corporate email accounts.

In 2001, we had a report that said that only 21% of all emails were work related, with the rest being junk or personal emails… but a year later the story was that office employees don’t get much spam at work. Last year, a report came out saying that spam made up 33% of office email, which seems lower than the other studies (which also said another 25% of work emails were personal, and thus 42% — twice of that earlier study — were work related).

The latest such study claims a flip of that original stat: 21% of corporate emails are spam. So, basically, over the past few years, we’ve had reports of lots of spam and not very much spam at all when it comes to the office — suggesting that, frankly, no one really knows how much spam there is in the office. Also, to be honest, the aggregate number is pretty useless, as different companies (and different people within a company) probably face vastly different levels of “spam threat.”

So, rather than focusing on how much corporate email is spam, why not focus on how effective (or not) IT departments are at stopping the spam from those who are most targeted?

Hezbollah Hacked Israeli Military Radio

Newsday is reporting that Hezbollah was able to monitor secure Israeli military communications, perhaps using technology supplied by Iran, during the recent Lebanon war. A former Israeli general, speaking anonymously, called the results ‘disastrous’ for Israel. The story reports that an anonymous Lebanese source said that Hezbollah might have taken advantage of Israeli soldiers’ mistakes in following secure radio procedures. The radio gear uses frequency hopping and encryption.

Gonzales Wants ISP Data Retention To Curb Child Porn

The AP is reporting that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testified before the Senate Banking Committee today and called for Congress to require ISPs to preserve customer records, asserting that prosecutors need them to fight child pornography.

‘This is a problem that requires federal legislation,’ Gonzales said. He called the government’s lack of access to customer data the biggest obstacle to deterring child porn. ‘We respect civil liberties but we have to harmonize this so we can get more information,’ he said.”

Gonzales added that he agrees with a letter sent to Congress in June by 49 state attorneys general, requesting federal legislation to require ISPs to hold onto customer data longer.