Security firm MessageLabs has reported a 10 per cent fall in the amount of spam it has seen hitting mailboxes in August, and that the proportion of emails carrying viruses dropped about half a per cent during the same month. They suggested that, while some of the fall could be attributed to the cyclical nature of spam and viruses, which often drops during the summer months, the <A HREF="http://www.vnunet.com/news/1157922">US Operation Web Snare initiative could have a bearing.</A>