Study: Image spam levels rocket

Figures released by Marshal show that image spam has jumped by 175 percent since September last year, representing 56 percent of all spam sent over the past six months.

This rise in picture-based spam coincides with the decline of messages containing embedded URL links, the study claims.

In 2004, 96 percent of spam messages included a website hyperlink for the recipient to click. This figure has dropped to just over half, according to the research.

Spammers are constantly morphing their practices to overcome anti-spam filters, said Bradley Anstis, director of product management for Marshal. And we can expect image spam levels to continue to increase this year.