US continues to top the list of the ten most spam spreading countries, with Spain breaking into the league for the first time this quarter and taking the second position in the chart.
For the quarter ending in March, US had the most spam, being responsible for 16.4% of the total spam sent across the world, according to a report from security firm Sophos.
Other top countries in the list include Russia, Italy, China, Germany, Japan, France, Argentina, South Korea, Ukraine and India.
In terms of per-capital figures, Belarus emerged as top followed by Uruguay and Israel, while the US was positioned 27th.
The report however said that though the Easter European country is still the worst place in the world in terms of per-capital spam, the situation improved over the year.
Israel has moved second spot in terms of per-capita spam, moving from 12th position in the third quarter last year to seventh in the fourth.
Sophos security researcher Paul Ducklin said that the biggest surprise in the per capita table was Israel.
"With a comparatively small population, Israel’s by volume contribution isn’t enormous (29th place with 0.9% of the world’s spam), but that per capita result – more than three times the rate of our benchmark, the USA – just isn’t good enough," he said.
According to the report, the criminals exploit malware-infected computers as remote control "spam robots", better known as bots or zombies, to spread unwanted and illegal emails on their behalf.
"That’s because cybercrooks don’t send their own spam: that would be expensive, and easy to track, and would point the finger of law enforcement right back at them. Instead, the crooks co-opt innocent third parties – like you and me, or our friends and family – to send spam for them," said Ducklin.
"You end up paying for the bandwidth, carrying the risk, and contributing to your country’s standing in the Spampionship."
