Archive notice: This article was originally published on October 19, 2007. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
The highly compressed audio file advertises the stock of a company. The 29-second message is barely understandable because of the high compression. Since the content is also presented in English, the effects in the German-speaking region are probably limited at first. But it is probably only a matter of time before the first German MP3 spam is also put into circulation. According to antispameurope’s own statistics, in the third quarter of 2007 93.2% of all e-mails contained spam, viruses or other security-endangering content – with the trend continuing upward.
The main damage caused by spam already arises anyway from spam being put into circulation at all or being opened by users. According to various studies, the annual costs for companies through lost working time and defensive measures alone now amount to five hundred to more than one thousand euros per employee.
