Rising Above Spam and Other Threats via Machine Learning - Security News - Trend Micro USA

In 1978, some 400 ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) users received an email about a product viewing of new computer models. Gary Thuerk -- a marketer working for the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) -- thought it would be a good idea to email people on the network to sell computer products. While it drew interest from some of the recipients, a portion expressed annoyance at the then-unnamed intrusive advertising. Several years later, the cybersecurity industry called emails of a similar nature "spam," describing it as unwanted bulk email advertising products or services. Unfortunately, Thuerk's incidental infamy in e-marketing decades ago has been surpassed by today's cybercriminals: In 2002, spam distribution reached 2.4 billion per day; today, it has reached more than 300 billion. And while previously the repercussions of the overwhelming volume of spam simply included system performance issues, they now include more serious complications especially for businesses as cybercriminals use spam for phishing and other malicious purposes.