The report, based on a study of end-user email behavior and virus threats, found that 31 percent of users click on embedded links within spam emails, thereby letting spammers know their email accounts are live and, in many cases, loading their computers with spyware and viruses.
By clicking spam links, users ensure that the bulk email business remains economically viable. According to Radicati, they also unwittingly set of a chain reaction that exposes them, their business partners and customers to repeated spam attacks, including those of the more malicious variety, such as directory harvests and fishing scams.
“[The study] explains why email security threats including spam, viruses and phishing scams continue to proliferate,” said Marcel Nienhuis, an analyst at Radicati. Major advancements in technology approaches that routinely achieve 90 percent-plus catch rates [to block spam] are becoming widely available, yet no technology in the world can protect an organization if users exercise bad email behavior.”
The study also found that 18 percent of users have tried to unsubscribe from spam by using the “unsubscribe” link, a practice Radicati said does little more than give spammers the green light to flood a users inbox with more spam.
Similarly, more than 10 percent of users purchase products advertised in spam emails. Given the low cost of sending out huge volumes of messages, the fact that one in 10 users are buying spam-advertised products virtually guarantees sellers will continue to use spam, Radicati said.
