Russian Internet users lost $200m in 2008 because of spam – study

Russian Internet users lost $200 million in 2008 because of spam, said Alexander Gostev, head of the Center of Threat Global Studies and Analysis at the Kaspersky Laboratory in Moscow.

"Spam accounts for 86-96% of all the messages received by Russian users of the global network," Gostev said at a roundtable meeting, which focused on Internet users' safety, at the Interfax-Volga press center in Nizhny Novgorod on Monday.

At the same time, most spam is distributed through social networks, which pose the biggest threat to computer safety, he said.

According to a study by Score.com Inc., a company that specializes in measuring the digital world, Russia has the world's most engaged social networking audience, with visitors spending 6.6 hours and viewing 1,307 pages per visitor per month.

Russian social networking communities were the most active among the 40 individual countries studied by comScore. Brazil ranked close behind at 6.3 hours, followed by Canada (5.6 hours), Puerto Rico (5.3 hours) and Spain (5.3 hours).