CYBERSPACE — Americans love to be leaders — but spam is probably not one of the things that inspires intense national pride. Or it shouldn’t be. Nonetheless, according to the threat management specialists at SophosLabs, the United States leads the pack when it comes to shipping internet spam.This was determined by investigating the contents of the company’s global network of spam traps. Once the muck collected within them was examined, it was discovered that for the first time in more than two years, the U.S. had regressed in its previous progress in dealing with what SophosLabs calls the country’s “spam-relaying problem.”

Because of that, the red-white-and-blue tops the April to June 2006 “Dirty Dozen” world spam chart with 3.2-percent lead on challenger, China (including Hong Kong), with 23.2-percent of all spam. Who says the U.S. is a nation of consumers?

“Since the introduction of the CAN-SPAM legislation in 2004, we’ve seen a regular quarter-on-quarter drop in the proportion of spam coming from the U.S. — until now, that is,” observed Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at SophosLabs. Cluley doesn’t think this means the country is ignoring the problem however, “Given the number of arrests and the huge fines dished out to guilty spammers, it’s hard to criticize the U.S. for failing to take action.”

Cluley has no sweeping advice for spam haters, suggesting that “Perhaps the reality is that the statistics can’t be reduced any farther unless U.S. home users take action to secure their computers and put a halt to the zombie PC problem.”

A “zombie PC” is one that has been hacked and hijacked by Trojans, worms, or viruses. These systems, also called “botnet computers,” then become unwitting distribution points. The best way to avoid such a fate is for users to properly install and configure security software — and then make sure it is kept up-to-date. When used in combination with a firewall and necessary security patches, most infections can be avoided, although some spammers are avoiding filters by embedding images in their emails.

Sophos recommends that computer users ensure they keep their security software up-to-date, as well as using a properly configured firewall and installing the latest operating system security patches. Businesses must also look to implement a best practice policy regarding email account usage.

South Korea poses no threat to American dominance in the spam department, producing only a paltry 7.5-percent, followed by under-achieving France with 5.2-percent, Spain with 4.08-percent, Poland with 3.06-percent, Brazil lagging with 3.1-percent, wearing Italy as a shadow with 3.0-percent, and Germany with a barely there 2.5-percent. Keeping the bottom of the top 12 warm was the United Kingdom, Taiwan, and Japan — none of which was able to even manage 2-percent. The rest of the world accounted for the other 22-percent of unsolicited emails.

Although Russia entirely avoided the Dirty Dozen, SophosLabs believes that the country’s spammers may well command wide-ranging networks of zombie PCs.