There was a time when spam wasn’t considered dangerous; it was merely obnoxious. Unfortunately, it seems that time is quickly coming to an end. For example, take the recent article on CNN.com: “Cyber crime poses threat to e-commerce.” The article—about increasing trends in online spam and related fraud—cites a statistic from antivirus-software provider Symantec which claims that the percentage of spam that contains malicious software has increased 900% over last year.

Additionally, as perpetrators of online crime get smarter and savvier, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between legitimate email and spam. Especially during the holidays—a busy time for fraudsters, as we’ve already discussed—there are plenty of opportunities to take advantage of the upswing in online shopping for Christmas. For example, take a look at the top 10 subject lines for seasonal spam, as reported in the December issue of Symantec’s monthly report, State of Spam: (more…)