A malware attack cost a shipping company up to $300m

"A.P. Moller-Maersk, the world’s largest container ship and supply vessel company, said Tuesday that it would incur hundreds of millions in U.S. dollar losses due to the NotPetya wiper malware attacks of late June.
In its second quarter earnings report, Maersk executives said they were expecting losses between $200 million and $300 million. The lost revenue, they said, was due to “significant business interruption” because the company was forced to temporarily shutter critical systems infected with the malware.
“The malware was contained to only impact the container related businesses of A.P. Moller – Maersk, and therefore six out of nine businesses, including all Energy businesses, could uphold normal operations,” the company said in its earnings report. “A.P. Moller – Maersk also remained in full control of all vessels throughout the situation, and all employees were safe.”"

Source:  Threat Post, 16th August 2017

The trade-off between brand safety and the cost of digital video advertising

Source:  Chart from Enders Analysis, used in this article in Business Insider, 25th March 2017
Note that there is no scale on either axis, so the chart is purely illustrative

in 2016 Google took down 1.7 billion ads that violated its advertising policies

"We have a strict set of policies that govern the types of ads we do and don’t allow on Google in order to protect people from misleading, inappropriate, or harmful ads. And we have a team of engineers, policy experts, product managers and others who are waging a daily fight against bad actors. Over the years, this commitment has made the web a better place for you—and a worse place for those who seek to abuse advertising systems for their own gain.
In 2016, we took down 1.7 billion ads that violated our advertising policies, more than double the amount of bad ads we took down in 2015. If you spent one second taking down each of those bad ads, it’d take you more than 50 years to finish. But our technology is built to work much faster."

Source:  Blog post from Google, 25th January 2017

Articles written by women attract more abusive or disruptive comments

"Articles written by women got more blocked (ie abusive or disruptive) comments across almost all sections. But the more male-dominated the section, the more blocked comments the women who wrote there got (look at Sport and Technology). Fashion, where most articles were written by women, was one of the few sections where male authors consistently received more blocked comments."

Source:  The Guardian, 12th April 2016

70% of emails traffic in Q2 2013 was spam

"The percentage of spam in total email traffic increased by 4.2% from the first quarter of 2013 and came to at 70.7%.
The percentage of phishing emails in total mail traffic fell by 0.0016% and came to 0.0024%.
Malicious attachments were detected in 2.3% of all emails — that’s 1% less than in Q1 2013."

Source:  SecureList, 5th August 2013

Every month Google consumes enough energy to wash 5 million loads of laundry

"To mark Earth Day 2011, WordStream Inc., a provider of search marketing software, has compiled research revealing the environmental effects, good and bad, of our ever-growing Internet dependence, including data on the energy usage and CO2 emissions of Google searches and email spam.
Research findings include:
- In 2005, the 10.3 million data centers in the U.S. used 61 billion kWh of energy -- enough to power the entire U.K. for two years.
- One Google search produces the same amount of CO2 as driving a car three inches.
- Every month, Google consumes enough energy to wash 5 million loads of laundry.
- The 62 trillion spam messages sent each year produce the equivalent CO2 emissions of 1.6 million cars driving around the planet."

Source:  Data compiled by the internet marketing company WordStream, published as a press release, 21st April 2011

The number of spam emails sent dropped dramatically in 2010

"The amount of junk e-mail being sent across the globe has seen a dramatic fall in recent months.
The volume of spam has dropped steadily since August, but the Christmas period saw a precipitous decline.
One security firm detected around 200 billion spam messages being sent each day in August, but just 50 billion in December.
While the reasons for the decline are not fully understood, spam watchers warn the lull may not last.
Around the Christmas holidays, three of the largest spam producers curtailed their activity, Paul Wood, a senior analyst at Symantec Hosted Services told BBC News.
"But it's hard to say why," he added."

Source:  Symantic Hosted Services, reported by BBC News, 6th January 2011

An estimated 247 billion emails are sent each day

"The number of worldwide email users is projected to increase from over 1.4 billion in 2009 to almost 1.9 billion by 2013. In 2009, 74% of all email accounts will belong to consumers, and 24% to corporate users.
Worldwide email traffic will total 247 billion messages per day in 2009. By 2013, this figure will almost double to 507 billion messages per day.
In 2009, about 81% of all email traffic is spam. According to our projections, a typical 1,000-user organization can spend upwards of $1.8 million a year to manage spam."
Source: Press release from The Radicati Group, 6th May 2009

Approximately 15% of Twitter traffic, 10% of MySpace traffic and 7% of Facebook traffic is porn spam

"About 15% of Twitter traffic, 10% of MySpace traffic and 7% of Facebook traffic is porn spam, according to security expert Alexandru Catalin Cosoi of BitDefender.
What's more, as porn spam rises on social sites, email-based porn spam has begun to drop.
Twitter, presently the "it" brand of social networks, currently suffers from a deluge of spam. Spammers register as users with provocative images, then follow mounds of other users and invite them to visit links to their sites."
Source: Research by BitDefender, reported by MarketingVox, 11th September 2009

80% of US internet users find overlay ads 'very frustrating'

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"At the same time as many internet advertisers are ramping up their web advertising efforts, the majority of US consumers say they are very frustrated by many common types of internet ads, according to (pdf) a recent study by Harris Interactive, which cites pop-ups, ads that are “moused over,” difficult-to-close ads, and musical ads as some of the worst offenders.
Ads that spread across the page and cover the content beneath them are the most vexing for consumers, with 80% of respondents in the study deeming these types to be very frustrating. Ads on which consumers can’t find the skip or close button are a close second, with 79% of respondents similarly annoyed, the survey found."
Source: Harris Interactive study, reported by MarketingVox, 23rd July 2009

More than 97% of emails are spam

"More than 97% of all emails sent over the net are unwanted, according to a Microsoft security report.
The emails are dominated by spam adverts for drugs, and general product pitches and often have malicious attachments."
Source: Microsoft security report, cited by the BBC News website, 8th April 2009