[February 01, 2006] Sophos report highlights nation's role in spam generation Tweet (BNamericas.com Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)Brazil ranks sixth in the world in terms of sending spam, tech news service Baguete reported, citing data by British IT security company Sophos. The country dropped from fifth to sixth place last year and accounted for 2.6% of all spam in 2005 compared to 3.34% in 2004, according to the data. The worst offender continued to be the US, which was responsible for 24.5% of spam last year, the data showed. The US was followed by China (22.3%), South Korea (9.7%), France (5%) and Canada (3%). The research covered unsolicited messages that were received via the internet in 2004 and 2005, Baguete reported. Sophos is a provider of integrated threat management solutions, developing protection against viruses, spyware, spam and policy abuse for business, education and government. The company has 35 million users worldwide, the company's web site said. SECURITY Online security is the leading concern for Brazil's small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), according to recent research by US consultancy IDC. The consultancy interviewed 850 SMEs in the country and provided a list of 20 priorities for IT-related spending in 2006, Mauro Peres an analyst for IDC in Brazil told BNamericas. "The largest number of respondents ranked security as a key issue, with VoIP in second place," he said. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]