---
title: "Quiz: Test Your Knowledge of Spam and Phishing | DuoCircle"
description: "Here is a quick, fun quiz to test your knowledge of spam and phishing."
image: "https://www.duocircle.com/images/og-default.png"
canonical: "https://www.duocircle.com/blog/phishing-protection/quiz-test-your-knowledge-of-spam-and-phishing/"
---

Quick Answer

A 10-question quiz covering spam and phishing history and statistics with sourced answers. Highlights from the answer key: the first known spam email was sent on May 1, 1978 to several hundred ARPANET users by Digital Equipment Corporation; the term phishing first appeared in the AOHell newsgroup on January 2, 1996; in April 2019 spam made up 85% of all email per Talos Intelligence; at least 3.4 billion fake emails are sent globally per day; spammers receive one reply per 12.5 million emails sent; Microsoft is the brand most frequently impersonated in phishing per Statista.

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![Quiz: Test Your Knowledge of Spam and Phishing](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/stock/phishing-prevention.jpg) 

### Here is a quick, fun quiz to test your knowledge of spam and phishing.

1. **The first known spam email was sent in what year?**  
   1. 1972  
   2. 1978  
   3. 1985  
   4. 1995
2. **In April 2019, what percentage of all email was spam?**  
   1. 70%  
   2. 75%  
   3. 80%  
   4. 85%
3. **The first known use of the term phishing occurred in what year?**  
   1. 1996  
   2. 2001  
   3. 2006  
   4. 2011
4. **How many fake emails are sent around the world every day?**  
   1. 870 million  
   2. 1.3 billion  
   3. 3.4 billion  
   4. 10.1 billion
5. **As of June 25, 2019, the biggest spammer in the world is from what country?**  
   1. United States  
   2. Ukraine  
   3. India  
   4. China
6. **Do spammers receive one reply out of how many emails sent?**  
   1. 1,500,000  
   2. 6,000,000  
   3. 9,000,000  
   4. 12,500,000
7. **Which brand is most frequently used in phishing attacks?**  
   1. Microsoft  
   2. Facebook  
   3. PayPal  
   4. Netflix
8. **Which of the following is NOT a practical way to stop/reduce spam?**  
   1. Use a spam filter  
   2. Don’t publish your email address  
   3. Unsubscribe to unwanted messages  
   4. Delete your email account
9. **Which of the following is NOT a phishing technique?**  
   1. Whaling  
   2. Harpooning  
   3. Spear phishing  
   4. Pharming
10. **The most affordable spam filtering and phishing protection available is from what company?**  
   1. DuoCircle  
   2. DuoCircle  
   3. DuoCircle  
   4. DuoCircle

For enterprise-grade [spam filtering](/email/spam-filtering) and [phishing protection](/email/phishing-protection) at small business prices, check our [email security services](/). Protecting over 25,000 businesses worldwide.

### **Answers**

1. **B**, the [first known email spam](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History%5Fof%5Femail%5Fspam) was sent on May 1, 1978 to several hundred users on ARPANET. It was an advertisement for a presentation by Digital Equipment Corporation. The reaction was almost universally negative.
2. **D**, according to [Talos Intelligence](https://www.talosintelligence.com/reputation%5Fcenter/email%5Frep).
3. **A**, [according to Internet records](https://www.phishing.org/history-of-phishing), the first time that the term “phishing” was used and recorded was on January 2, 1996\. The mention occurred in a Usenet newsgroup called AOHell.
4. **C**, at least [3.4 billion fake emails](https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2019/06/12/fake-emails/) are sent around the world every day with the vast majority of suspicious emails emanating from U.S.-based sources.
5. **B**, according to [Spamhaus](https://www.spamhaus.org/statistics/spammers/).
6. **D**, [for every 12.5 million spam emails sent](https://www.propellercrm.com/blog/email-spam-statistics) out, only one person responds.
7. **A**, [according to Statista](https://www.statista.com/statistics/266359/online-brands-most-affected-by-phishing-attacks/).
8. **D**, technically deleting your email account will stop spam, but it defeats the purpose
9. **B**
10. **A, B, C, D**

![Brad Slavin](https://media.mailhop.org/dmarcreport/images/team/brad-slavin.jpg) 

Brad Slavin 

General Manager

General Manager at DuoCircle. Product strategy and commercial lead across the email security portfolio.

## Secure your email infrastructure

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[Contact Sales](/contact/) [Explore Products](/products/) 

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