Spam is down, Malware is up 2012

Spam has reached its lowest level in years but Malware skyrockets, McAfee reports.  Spam may be down, but now malicious coders and cyber criminals are focusing on coding more sophisticated malware. launching more sophisticated attacks (PDF format), according to McAfee’s latest Threats Report.

Though spam levels have declined overall, it is still a clear danger because of the increase in spear phishing, or more targeted attacks. In years past, spammers sent their payloads to millions of random addresses, hoping to infect at least a small percentage of users. But now address lists are more accurate, says McAfee.