China was the leading source of Internet attack traffic in the three-month period ending September 30, according to Akamai’s quarterly "State of the Internet" report, which the company published today. The United States has maintained its number two spot since Q1, and Japan, which topped the list in Q2, moved down to fifth place.
Last week McColo Corp, a major hosting service for spamming organizations, was taken offline, The Washington Post reported. Botnets using McColo’s many Internet addresses were responsible for as much as 75 percent of spam a day, and it will be interesting to see if the shutdown makes any difference in the U.S.’s Q4 rank. Considering attack traffic accounted for 20 percent of America’s overall Internet traffic in Q3, my guess is it probably won’t–especially as attacks are escalating on other fronts, like the phishing scams that are thriving during the economic crisis.
Attack traffic increased 30 percent globally in Q3, and now originates from 179 countries compared to the 139 countries in Q2, the Akamai report found.
The "State of The Internet" report is based on data collected from Akamai’s global
server network, which delivers around 20 percent of Internet traffic a day. The network’s size makes the data a useful, if not exact, indicator of overall Internet trends.
Andy interviewed Suzanne Johnson, Senior Industry Marketing Manager for Digital Media, in September at the Akamai headquarters in Cambridge, Mass. In the segment, she shows him a demo of the Akamai globe, which demonstrates the reach of Akamai’s network. Below is an image from the report of the top originating countries for attack traffic.
—Kelsey Blodget, Associate Producer
