Distil Networks has published its “Bad Bot Landscape Report” for 2013. The company has a database of 7 billion malicious bots, of which 2.2 billion were detected and recorded last year.
Distil Networks warns that malicious bot traffic is on the rise. The number of malicious bots in total web traffic has almost doubled from the first quarter of 2013 to the same period in 2014 (from 12.25% to 23.6%). On the other hand, the percentage of harmless bots decreased from 27% to 19.4% during the same period.
The problem with the rise in malicious bot traffic is that companies are paying significant amounts for the bandwidth used for malicious traffic. However, bad traffic doesn't just affect one specific category of business. ISPs, businesses, and regular Internet users are all negatively affected.
The report also shows that most malicious bots are located in the United States. Their peak traffic time is recorded from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM Eastern Time.
Worryingly, for over 1,100 ISPs and hosting providers, 70% or more of their total traffic is represented by malicious bots. In 2013, the largest botnet was Pushdo, which affected a total of 4.2 million IP addresses and almost as many computers.
The Distil Networks report also finds that of all businesses, financial services businesses serve the highest percentage of bad traffic.
In the mobile environment now, nine out of the top ten global businesses are affected by malicious bots.
“The botnet landscape is rapidly evolving, causing a variety of harms to all stakeholders on the Internet, especially website owners. The volume of botnet data will continue to grow for one simple reason – bots are an effective tool for many on the dark side of the Internet community. The annual report presents significant evidence of botnets and debunks some widely held beliefs about their origins,” said Distil NetworksRami Essaid.
“For example, most of the malicious bots originate in the United States. The intent of the Bad Bot Landscape Report is to provide an in-depth understanding of the origins of malicious bots and help organizations prepare appropriately to mitigate this rapidly accelerating threat to their security.”
In addition to the report, Distil has developed a bot designed to check the date SSL certificates were issued. This is important because many companies were forced to reissue certificates due to the Heartbleed bug.
The full Bad Bot Landscape Report is available on the Distil website. Registration required.
Source: secnews.gr
