Spam Statistics

Via Utterly Boring comes some alarming statistics from WindowsSecrets.com about Spam. To quote Utterly Boring :

• Spam exceeded 70% of all e-mail in July 2004 (60% of which is being sent by infected zombie machines)
• About 1 in 12 e-mails carried viruses in the first six months of 2004
• There are now 1,740 known, unpatched security flaws in Windows and other operating systems
• More than 1,974 unique phishing attacks were reported in July 2004
• In surveys, 74% of users whose PCs are running adware from Claria (formerly Gator) said they had no knowledge of it being installed.

I'll add my own scary stat to the list :

• Thirty percent of American consumers have experienced online identity theft

The WindowsSecrets article has plenty of evidence to back up those statistics, as well as some handy tips for ameliorating the problem. I was familiar with most, but not all, of them, so it's worth a read.