Top 3 Bots: Billions (With A B!) Of Spams A Day!Top 3 Bots: Billions (With A B!) Of Spams A Day!

How much havoc can a botnet wreak? Too much, according to MessageLabs, which reports that the top 3 bots are spewing 21 billion spams a day.Symantec's Message Labs figures pin as much as 20% of global spam traffic on three botnets: Donbot, Cutwail and Mega-D.

Last year's McColo takedown gave hope that shutting down providers would help shut down spam, but no such luck, long-term anyway.

Taking down the botnets' hosts doesn't even slow their spew for long: Cutwail's got axed a week ago with the takeout of a Latvian server, but was back up to speed within a matter of days.

Botnet efficiency and their self-defensive capacities seem likely to grow, and grow exponentially, in the future.

With that in mind, tightening your own defenses and mail filters is a key protective tool for your business, as is making sure that none of your equipment is working with the botnets instead of against them.