BERLIN — Internet users around the world send an estimated 60 billion emails every day and many of these are spam or scam attempts, business leaders said on Tuesday. Deutsche Telekom Chief Executive Kai-Uwe Ricke said cyber criminals were growing more active and sophisticated, and the vast email traffic meant industry, government and Internet users had to be vigilant and work together. ‘This figure was new for me as well — worldwide there are around 60 billion emails sent every day,’ Telekom Chief Executive Kai-Uwe Ricke told an Internet security conference. ‘A large percent of it is spam,’ Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer added. German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble warned of the recent growth in ‘phishing’ — fishing for passwords, often via fake emails that especially target online banking. ‘In 2005, the attempts at phishing (globally) dramatically increased, by 300 percent compared with the previous year,’ he said. ‘According to international estimates, phishing is successful with up to 5 percent of all Internet users.’ He said this success rate caused inestimable economic damage worldwide. Internet security firm Symantec Corp registered some 8 million phishing attempts last year. Germany’s BKA federal crime office said this […]