Email marketing undermined by cybercriminals

Botnet networks operated by cybercriminals are undermining the work of email marketing professionals, it has been claimed.

According to online news provider Biz Report, despite a recent clampdown on botnets, including the shutting down of McColo and PriceWert, which were major spam email senders, other networks have sprung up in their place.

The website points to research conducted by Symantec's MessageLabs, which show that one botnet network, GRUM, is now responsible for around a fifth of total global spam messages.

MessageLabs' research also shows that BOBAX is responsible for 16 per cent of spam messages and overall botnets send 150 billion emails a day.
"Botnets may be the biggest threat to email marketing," Biz Report writer Kristina Knight states.

Meanwhile, Article Maniac notes that as spam email filters become more sophisticated, legitimate marketing material is struggling to get through to people's inboxes.

The website said that in order to tackle this problem, businesses should clearly brand their email marketing so people can recognise it before it gets deleted.

Written by Debra Hastings-Henry