Spamit is the organization allegedly behind a fair percentage of the worlds pharmacy spam. The closure of Spamit was reported to have taken place around the 27th of September. According to more recent reports the reasons for the sudden “voluntary” closure are related to charges brought against the individuals behind Spamit.
Having observed similar scenarios in the past, we were somewhat skeptical about the potential affect on global spam levels. It is not uncommon for botnets or spammers to shut down with no noticeable change. Or alternatively, if there is a drop, then it is momentary and spam levels soon shoot straight back up. In our most recent Internet Threats Trend report we did note a sharp drop in spam levels at the very end of the quarter (around the time of the closure) but we decided to wait a few weeks to see whether we observed a sustained decrease.
We extended our analysis of spam levels to this week (25th October) and it appears that for now spam levels are in fact down. A comparison of spam sent in September to spam sent in October (to date) reveals a drop of around 18% on average per day.
Looking at the spam levels for October though, we note a huge outbreak around the 15th to 16th, proving that Spamit have no shortage of successors. In fact the Spamit.com website currently hosts a cryptic end-of life message that seems to imply the arrival of a replacement. We’ll keep watching.