Security firm MessageLabs has claimed that spam accounted for 76.8 per cent of all email in May 2008, a level not seen since early in 2007.

However, spammers aren't using traditional tactics, according to MessageLabs. Insead, they are abusing services such as Microsoft's online storage service SkyDrive and Google's online applications, such as Google Docs.

Rather than send email with text in the body of the messages or attachments that can be blocked by spam filters, they simply send links to pages hosted by the online storage services.

"The savvy, intelligent and accurate cybercriminals of today seem to have abandoned the attachments tactic that was so innovative in late 2007 and are now focused on exploiting free hosted applications which have become mainstream in 2008," said Mark Sunner, chief security analyst, MessageLabs.

"The spammers are taking advantage of the fact that these services are free, provide ample bandwidth and are rarely blacklisted; this is one more addition to the growing list of ways the spammers have succeeded in outsmarting traditional detection devices," he continued.

www.messagelabs.com

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