When it comes to spam, India at number three after US and China

India is now ranked third on the list of the countries distributing spam across the world, after US and China, a new report has claimed. While the US was the single highest-ranking country in the study, Asia topped the list of continents with 36.6 percent of the world’s spam accounted for. In the latter half of 2012, India had been leading the way but has now fallen back to third, with China leapfrogging into second place after a spell in the lower half of the list, statistics from SophosLabs revealed. US is still firmly on the top, distributing more spam than any other country in the world, clocking in at a “respectable” 18.3 percent of junk email sent. The study tracked the amount of spam sent between December 2012 and February 2013. China took the second spot and India the third, with 8.2 percent and 4.2 percent of the world’s spam, respectively. [caption id=“attachment_650593” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational Image. Reuters[/caption] Other high-ranking countries included Peru, France, South Korea, and Italy. North America ranked third, with a relatively diminutive 22 percent, TechNewsDaily reported. The list included USA (18.3 percent) at number one, China (8.2 percent) at number two. India (4.2 percent) was placed third while Peru (4.0 percent) stood fourth in the list. France (3.4 percent), S Korea (3.4 percent) and Italy (3.4 percent) were placed fifth on the list. Taiwan (2.9 percent) and Russia (2.9 percent) were at the eighth position. Spain (2.8 percent), Germany (2.7 percent) and Iran (2.6 percent) were at tenth, eleventh and twelfth spot respectively. Compromised user PCs are a huge avenue of spam distribution. In order to stop spammers cold, everyday users can keep their anti-virus software up to date, run regular malware checks, and update their hard-to-guess passwords on a regular basis. PTI