It may not seem like it, but the levels of email spam dropped to a 12-year low in June, according to a new report from cyber security firm Symantec. The rates of phishing attempts and email-based malware were both down last month.
While Kaspersky put spam volumes at just shy of 60 percent for the first quarter of the year, Symantec's Ben Nahorney, cyber security threat analyst, said his company's latest metrics place the overall rate at 49.7 percent now.
"This is the first time this rate has fallen below 50 percent of email for over a decade," said Nahorney. "The last time Symantec recorded a similar spam rate was clear back in September of 2003."
While spam mail and email-based attacks were down in volume, Symantec saw an uptick in malicious software last month. While May saw the creation of 44.5 million pieces of malicious software, June saw 57.6 million new pieces unleashed on the public.
"This increase in activity lends more evidence to the idea that, with the continued drops in email-based malicious activity, attackers are simply moving to other areas of the threat landscape," Symantec reported.
Symantec also reported that ransomware attacks rose in the month of June, passing the 477,000 mark for threats detected, but Nahorney pointed out that the surge in software hijacking was still below the rates seen as 2014 came to a close. June was the second consecutive month that Symantec noticed an uptick in ransomware activity.
Earlier this month, Google's Sri Harsha Somanchi, a product manager for the company, briefed the public on the Gmail team's latest efforts to can spam.
"Since the beginning, machine learning has helped make the Gmail spam filter more awesome," said Somanchi. "When you click the 'Report spam' and 'Not spam' buttons, you're not only improving your Gmail experience right then and there, you're also training Gmail's filters to identify spam vs. wanted mail in the future."
Now, Google has been working to bring Google Search and Google Now's machine learning skills to Gmail, he said.
Gmail will use an artificial neural network, the product of Google's deep mind endeavors, to improve the email service's ability to spot spoof emails. The smarter spam filter will also take note of an individual's love or distaste for email newsletters. Those who hate newsletters will see less of them in their inboxes and those who don't mind them will have less of them incorrectly labeled "spam."
