In the quarter Australia had fallen from number 25 to 32 in a global ranking of countries known for sending spam.

The ranking means Australia contributes 0.4 percent to the rate of global spam. The U.S. was found to contribute 21 percent topping the list. China, including Hong Kong at 13.4 percent, France at 6.3 percent (a tie with South Korea) and new entry Israel at 1.8 percent rounded out the list.

Poland contributed 4.8 percent, Brazil 4.7 percent, Italy 4.3 and Germany 3 percent.

The only comparison Australia had globally was Malaysia, who according to the Sophos ASEAN league table ranked globally at number 31 with 0.4 percent.

Paul Ducklin, Sophos Asia Pacific head of technology said not too much can be read into the drop in spam relaying in Australia. Ducklin said Australia is down and staying down and in such a table should be glad the country is near the bottom in an increasingly global issue.