McAfee has released it Q4 Threats Report, which found that 2009 averaged 135.5 billion spam messages per day, but spam volume decreased by 24 percent in Q4 compared to Q3.
 | | U.S. Top Spam Producer Globally |  |
Zombie production in the U.S. dropped significantly from 13.1 percent in Q3 to 9.5 percent in Q4, making China the top Zombie-producing country at 12 percent. Brazil ranked third, with Russia and Germany rounding out the top five countries. The U.S. still remains the number one country in terms of spam production, with Brazil and India landing in the number two and three spots. Ukraine and Germany entered the list of top 10 countries producing spam for the first time in 2009.
"In Q4, we saw spam activity drop, but identified some interesting trends developing in terms of the geographic distribution of cyber threats and the types of threats executed," said Mike Gallagher, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at McAfeeLabs.
"China emerged as the worldwide leader in both zombie production and the execution of SQL-injection attacks, while internet-based attacks played a bigger role and will continue to do so as cybercriminals target the most popular social destinations in 2010."
North America is the global leader in hosting malicious content, with EMEA in second, followed by Asia/Pacific. In Europe, Germany holds the top spot, followed by the Netherlands and Italy. China is the leader for hosting malicious content in Asia, followed by Russia and South Korea. South America is beginning to play a larger role, with Brazil as the top hosting country in that region.
|