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November 22, 2005

Russians, not Ralsky, now rule the spam world

Looks like the FBI's September raid on spam king Alan Ralsky may have knocked him off his throne.

Ralsky has lost his long-held #1 position atop the Spamhaus list of the world's top spammers. Although downgraded this week to #4, Ralsky probably could have reconstituted his spam operation despite having computers and other items confiscated by the feds. But according to Spamhaus records, the anti-spam group hasn't detected any major new spamming from Ralsky since September.

So far, the FBI raid hasn't resulted in legal charges against Ralsky. Ralsky's lawyer reportedly has said his client was complying with state and federal spam laws.

Meanwhile, Russian fugitive Leo Kuvayev is the new king of spam kings. In fact, four of the top seven spammers worldwide are in Russia, according to Spamhaus.

Is Moscow becoming the new Boca? Sure looks that way, despite the fact that U.S. networks are still the source of most of the spam in the world.

Posted by brian at November 22, 2005 2:40 PM