A new report from anti virus firm SoftScan has revealed that spam levels remain hideously high at 87.72% of all email traffic, while reports of phishing activity have soared.
Virus levels have doubled, but at 1.02% they still represent a tiny proportion of the total email scanned by SoftScan last month.
The company said that 89.5 per cent of all viruses scanned were classified as phishing malware, although this increase could be attributed to improved or additional antivirus detection.
Diego d’Ambra, chief technical officer at SoftScan, said: “Recent enhancements and developments by the antivirus industry to their scanners has meant an increase in detecting phishing emails as malware, as opposed to spam. This gives the impression that phishing has risen significantly, but is really due to the reclassification from spam to malware.”
Spam levels are expected to reduce by a few per cent soon, with the post-summer holiday rise in legitimate business email pushing the spam percentage back down to its usual level of around 85 per cent.
A breakdown of the the top five virus groups in July are as follows:
1 Phishing: 89.50%
2 Netsky: 2.44%
3 Mytob: 2.19%
4 Bzub 1.42%
5 Bagle 1.22%
Mailwasher
Here in Digital Lifestyle towers, we’re plagued with spam like everyone else, but have been long time users of the excellent Mailwasher Pro software (Windows/Mac/Linux) which lets us swot spams from our server without having to download the things.
The software analyses each email as it arrives and flags up a warning if it is suspected junk mail using fuzzy logic and filtering, and there’s also the ability to set up custom filters.
There’s also a free version available for single accounts: Mailwasher freebie – well worth checking out for nowt!
We’ve already told you about the electronics-focussed and very blokey Make: magazine, but they’ve now got competition in the shape of a soon-come sister publication called Craft:, which is aimed at the “new alternative craft movement.” 
In line with its hip Web 2.0 aspirations, the magazine comes with an interactive website offering tons of links to ‘craft mafia’ clubs, an online blog, projects, magazine features and a clever idea to deliver knitting patterns over iTunes. 
The magazine are trialling the service now, so mad-for-it crafters can download a pattern for a stretch tube top with drawstring bottom, hipster shorts with scoop sides (whatever that is) from 
Fun, funky and painfully hip, the Craft: website is already a great resource for DIY types looking for inspiration and ideas, and makes a pleasant change from the usual corporate homogenised dreck that we keep getting press releases about. 
In a move that was as unexpected as night following day, MySpace has finally revealed plans to introduce its own music downloads service before the end of the year. 
Now the most visited site in the US, MySpace boasts millions of users with the site already established as an essential part of any new band’s online promotional activities. 
This gets around Apple’s stubborn refusal to licence their FairPlay digital rights management system to third parties, letting music fans play purchased tracks on their iPods. 
During an interview with Digital-Lifestyles [
Although there’s no shortage of gadgets like smartphones, PDAs, iPod and PSPs that are capable of playing back video, getting footage on to the fellas can be a bit of a pain. 
Users can connect the V-Mate to the AV output of their video recorder, set-top box, Freeview, DVR, DVD player, TV or other device and use the V-Mate’s remote control to configure the device, plus record and access content via a TV-based interface. 
The first HD-DVD players for Europe have just been announced by Toshiba at their press conference at IFA in Berlin. 
During his keynote, Gee Sung Choi, President and CEO of Samsung announced the launch of the YP-5K, a very slick MP3 player with built-in pivoting speaker, letting you ‘entertain’ your friends or fellow train passengers. 