Online Survey on
Spamming Issues
Sept 9th, 2003
Executive Summary
2
a VNU company
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Executive Summary
Incidence of organisations receiving spam is high at
95%
Spam is mostly recognised as:
- Unsolicited emails (82%)
- Anonymous emails (77%)
About 77% of organisations currently use technology
to control spam
- mainly using mail filter/anti spam software (85%)
79% agree that spam costs significant time and
money, however:
- only 27% would take action to be removed from
spammers’ mailing lists
- only 48% would report the issue to respective
authorities
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Executive Summary
Organisations are concerned about the
problem (75%). The spamming issue is
seen as moderate and serious (66%). :
- therefore, the government should
enforce legislation to outlaw spam as
95% of organisations suggest that the
current law is inadequate
- currently, only 10% of those
organisations who responded are aware
of the existence of law related to
spamming
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Incidence and sources
of spam
5
a VNU company
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95% of organisations claimed that they have received
spam emails before
Incidence of receiving spam
%
Yes,
occasionally
32%
Yes, often
64%
My system
deletes before I
see it
3%
No, never
1%
Base : All organisations = 102
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About 54% of organisations claim that they normally receive
spam emails in both personal and company’s email
Type of account normally receive spam
%
Personal email
32%
Both
54%
Company'
s
email
14%
Base : All organisations = 102
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Most organisations treat unsolicited and emails sent by
someone unknown as spam
How is SPAM usually recognised
%
82
Unsolicited
Sent by
someone not
known
77
54
Has ads in it
33
Has links in it
Has specific
words in it
Other
23
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Base : All organisations = 102
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On average, about 18 spam emails are received per day
No of spam emails received in a day
%
Above 50
5
52
10 - 50
43
Less than 10
Mean Score
18.38
Base : All organisations = 102
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Most spam emails received are commercial-related
solicitations
Kinds of spam normally received
%
80
Get rich scheme
Unsolicited advertising
75
Free vacations or trip
75
Selling miscellaneous products (Viagra, or other sexual
enhancement durgs etc.)
70
67
Pornography or adult material
62
Credit card offers
61
Network Marketing/ Multi-level Marketing/ Pyramid Marketing
55
Web gambling
49
Financial fraud
48
Chain letter
21
Jokes
11
Political
Others
4
Base : All organisations = 102
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Summary
About 95% claim that they have experience of receiving
spam
- Majority of them (54%) have received spam in both
personal and company’s email
- 52% of organisations receives about 10 - 50 emails per
day
Unsolicited emails (82%), emails sent by someone unknown
(77%) and emails that has ads in it (54%) are mostly
recognised as spams
- The spams that they received are mostly related to
commercial solicitations
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Attitude and feelings
about spam
12
a VNU company
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Majority of those who have ever received spam feels that
it is annoying and are offended by it
Reaction towards spam
Take offense to spam or not
%
%
1
I tolerate it
No, never
50
Taken action to
prevent spam
It is annoying
15
12
36
Yes, occasionally
It is excessively
annoying
49
Yes, always
37
Base : All organisations = 102
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Most will delete the spam emails immediately
Normal reaction upon receiving spam
%
91
Delete it immediately
39
Sometimes read it
Ask to be removed from
the list
27
7
Perform other action
Report to relevant
authority
Always read it
4
1
Base : All organisations = 102
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Summary
Most organisations find spamming annoying
(90%) and are offended by it (73%)
- However, only 12% have taken action to prevent
their organisations from receiving spams
Reaction towards spam email:
- 91% said that they would delete them
immediately
- 39% said that they will sometimes read them
- 27% said that they will take action to be
removed from the spam mailing list
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Organisations’ concerns
about spam
16
a VNU company
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Organisations are concerned about spamming issues
Organisation’s concern in relation to spam
%
Very concerned (4)
41
Somewhat
concerned (3)
34
20
A little concerned
(2)
Not at all
concerned (1)
5
Mean Score
3.12
Base : All organisations = 102
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66% think it is serious enough
Severity of spamming in organisations
%
4
Very serious (3)
62
Moderate (2)
Not Serious at all
(1)
20
Not Sure
14
Mean Score
1.81
Base : All organisations = 102
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Summary
41% of organisations are very concerned
about spamming issues
66% see spamming issues as a serious
problem and 20% of them think that it is
not serious
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Reporting spam
incidences
20
a VNU company
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Spam activities are usually reported to IT personnel within the
organisation. However, half of the victims usually ignore the issue
Parties report spam to
%
Organization IT
Personnel
36
13
ISP
4
CERT
Law Enforcement
Agencies
Other authority
I do not bother to report
to any parties
2
5
52
Base : All organisations = 102
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3 out of 4 cases reported were followed up by respective
authorities
Responsiveness of authorities reported spam to
%
37
Yes, always
Yes, sometimes
37
8
No
Not sure
18
Base : All organisations who report spam incidence = 49
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Amongst those who reported spam activities, 3 in 5 think that
reporting the problem to authorities can help stop the problem
Does reporting spam help to stop the problem?
%
27
Yes, definitely helps
Yes, helps a little
35
No
Not sure
14
18
6
I have never
reported it to any
parties
Base : All organisations who report spam incidence = 49
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Summary
Half of organisations who responded (52%) do not
bother to report spamming issues to any
authorities
Amongst those who reported, they will mainly
seek assistance from their own organisations IT
personnel (36%), ISP (13%) or CERT (4%)
- Responsiveness of the authorities reported to
are fairly high (74%)
- 62% who reported usually have the problem
rectified
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Preventive measures
taken by organisations
25
a VNU company
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Only about 4 in 10 organisations are aware of the presence of spam
policies
Awareness of presence of spam policies
Awareness of presence of training for managing
spam
%
%
No
47%
Not sure
14%
No
76%
Yes
14%
Yes
39%
Base : All organisations
Not sure
10%
102
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Most organisations have an anti-spamming tool in place to prevent
spam emails
Anti-spamming tools or mechanisms used by organisation
%
Mail Filter /AntiSpam software
85
Do not have any
tool or mechanism
23
11
Not sure
Other
3
Base : All organisations = 102
Ref. Table 24B
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Summary
About 77% of organisations have at least
one type of anti-spamming tool to address
spamming issues
- Mail filter and anti-spamming software
are most widely used (85%)
Awareness of the presence of spam
policies is fairly low (39%)
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Damages and costs
involved in managing
spam
29
a VNU company
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4 in 5 thinks that spam emails is a waste of resources
Does spam cost organisation significant time and money?
%
Yes
79%
Not sure
10%
No
11%
Base : All organisations = 102
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The damages caused by spam are mainly time-related and
that it will affect the organisation’s email network
Damages caused by spam
%
91
Time wasted
84
Mailbox over quota
69
Slow accessing email
41
Psychological disturbances - stress
30
Denial of service
Others
4
Base : All organisations = 102
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Summary
Effects of spam are costly as 79% said that
it is a total waste of resources such as
time and money
It usually causes damages such as email
and network problems
Mailbox over quota (84%)
Slow Access (69%)
Denial of service (30%)
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Laws and regulations
33
a VNU company
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Majority agreed that there should be a law to handle spamming.
However, only 1 in 9 are aware of the existence of legislation related
to spamming
Awareness of law related to spamming
Should there be a law to handle spamming?
%
%
Not sure
32%
No
58%
Yes
82%
Yes
10%
No
6%
Not sure
12%
Base : All organisations = 102
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Only a minority think that the law in Malaysia is adequate to handle
spamming. About 3 in 4 suggest that Malaysian government should be more
involved in helping to deal with spamming issues
Is the law in Malaysia adequate to handle
spamming?
%
Not sure
37%
Yes
74%
Yes
5%
No
58%
Should government step in and take action against
spam?
%
No
10%
Not sure
16%
Base : All organisations = 102
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Majority believe that identifying the spammers would be useful. About
2 in 5 suggest that the government should apply anti-spamming law
to cope with this issue
What actions or policies the government could take against spam
%
80
Blacklist spammers to allow filtering
57
Mass mailing agencies should pay an 'impact'fee
Create registry for those who do not want to receive
spam
50
44
Government should make spamming illegal
I'd prefer some other policy
Don't know
3
5
Base : All organisations = 102
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About 3 in 5 users indicated that spammers should be punished
Should spammer be punished?
%
No
14%
Yes
61%
Not sure
25%
Base : All organisations = 102
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More than half of the users feel that punishments such as termination
of internet access, fines and warnings should be imposed
Punishment considered for spammer
%
ISP to terminate account
61
Fines
61
60
ISP to give warning
56
Blacklist the company by respective government agencies
Banned spammer from using internet by respective
government agencies
51
27
Prosecuted by the court of law
16
Jail
No punishment should be imposed to spammer
1
Others
1
Base : All organisations = 102
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Summary
Low awareness in terms of existence of law related to
spamming (10%)
82% of organisations think that there should be a law to
handle spamming
- 74% reckon that government should take action against
those who spam
- Only 5% of organisations said that current law in
Malaysia is adequate to handle the issue
61% think that spammers should be punished and
suggested that spammers’ internet account should be
terminated, be warned by ISP and fined
More than 50% think that they should be blacklisted and
restricted from accessing the internet
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Demographics of
respondents and their
organisations
40
a VNU company
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Sample Composition I
Demographics by Industry
%
Government
9%
Services
64%
Others
16%
Manufacturing
11%
Base : All organisations
102
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Sample Composition II
Respondents by profession
Organisations by staff force
%
Executive
47%
%
Small (less
than 50)
24%
Large (Above
150)
52%
Officer
10%
Others
5%
Director
7%
Base : All organisations
Manager
31%
Medium (51 150)
24%
102
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Sample Composition III
Organisation classification
Respondents’ department
%
65
MIS/IT
Operations
5
Business
Development
4
Others
57
Public Limited
(Syarikat Awam Berhad)
7
Marketing
Finance/Accounts
Private Limited
(Sendirian Berhad)
7
Sales
Admin
%
25
Government &
Public Corporation
12
Partnership
2
Individual
2
Private Nonprofit/NGO
2
2
2
8
Base : All organisations
102
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