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Spam Not So Profitable?

“Professional spamming continues at record levels despite the
best efforts of security researchers, Internet stakeholders and law
enforcement groups to kill it off — making spam seem like a
business too profitable to die. Yet while spam groups do make money
off their increasingly elaborate efforts, it’s not nearly as
lucrative as you might think.

“A new report by researchers at the University of California at
San Diego (UCSD) and the International Computer Science Institute
at Berkeley, Calif., concludes that the widespread,
spam-distributing Storm botnet earns only about $3.5 million per
year.

“The total daily revenue attributable to Storm’s pharmacy
campaign is likely closer to $7,000 (or $9,500 during periods of
campaign activity,)” the researchers wrote. Nevertheless, Storm is
“certainly a healthy enterprise.”


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