Well… You had your suspicions but, now, they’re confirmed: More than 90 per cent of the e-mail sent to companies worldwide last year was spam.

That’s just one of the shocking findings in the PandaLabs 2008 Annual Report, from  the research wing of Internet security tools developer, Panda Software.

Based on a study of more than 430 million e-mail messages monitored last year by Panda’s TrustLayer Mail service, Panda tallied 89.88 per cent as straight spam and another 1.1 per cent as containing active malware.

The real shocker in those numbers may be that less than two per cent contained malware. Industry observers say that could simply be confirmation that cyber crooks are relying less on direct e-mail delivery of invasive bugs and more on social engineering e-mails that don’t actually carry malicious code or doctored Web sites that trick visitors into downloading malware.

The PandLabs statistics also confirm — as other authorities have reported — even the major coup last fall, which brought down mega spam host McColo of San Francisco, had no real, lasting effect on the spam problem. In spite of initially reducing global spam levels by up to 65 per cent, the bust was only a minor annoyance to the baddies who were up and running again on new servers outside the U.S., spamming more than ever, within two weeks.