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Symantec May State of Spam Report: Un-Happy 30th Birthday

While most dread turning the big 3-0, spammers are proudly accepting the number. Thirty years ago this week, Gary Thuerk sent the first email spam, paving the way for millions of spammers to follow his lead. Symantec’s May State of Spam Report findings show that 80 percent of all email in April was spam, reaching as high as 87 percent at times.

Highlights of the May report include:

• Bounced e-mail message spam
• Spamming Who’s Who professional networks
• Spear phishing for a subpoena
• Calendar invites
• IM spam
• Movie extra spam
• New twist on IRS phishing tricks
• Phishing emails purporting to come from Google AdWords