London: India has become the top ‘spam-spewing nation’ on the planet, overtaking the United States, according to a report.

A report of security firm Sophos ranked the nations by the amount of junk mail routed through computers in each country.

It said that 9.3 percent of all junk mail sent across the web came from or passed through computers in India, with America in the second place at 8.3 per cent and South Korea third at 5.7 per cent, the BBC reports.

According to Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, India’s rapid rise up the chart of spam producers is due to the rapid growth of the web in the country.

Cluley pointed out that the inexperience of the many first-time net users in India had led many to fall victim to hi-tech criminals.

“The latest stats show that, as more first-time internet users get online in growing economies, they are not taking measures to block the malware infections that turn their PCs into spam-spewing zombies,” he added.

ANI