Spam server shutdown has little effect

Security companies are reporting some drop in spam levels and botnet activity but they are quickly recovering.

Overall spam and botnet activity is now approaching the levels present before yesterday's shutdown.

“So far our guys haven't seen anything different,” Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos told vnunet.com.

“McColo was the last of the dinosaurs. Now a multi-headed hydra, it's getting much harder to knock out the botnets.”

One of the largest botnets, Cutwail, did see a temporary loss of activity. Cutwail is estimated to be behind over a third of all spam and activity dropped to almost nothjing after the shutdown, but it is now back on the rise.

"The McColo shutdown really allowed spammers to prepare for this latest shutdown," said Matt Sergeant, senior anti-spam technologist for MessageLabs.

"For now, we will see spam levels lower than usual, but we expected the swift comeback of Cutwail. The spammers learned that they can't put all their eggs in one basket and need to have backup command and control."