With the global botnet growing by 6.7 million
in 2016, new research reveals Chicago, Washington, D.C., and
Atlanta are the leading U.S. cities fueling botnet-enabled
attacks
Approaching the one-year anniversary of the Mirai botnet attacks
– which infected almost 500,000 connected devices and brought much
of the internet to a standstill – Norton by Symantec (NASDAQ:
SYMC), the world’s leading cyber security company, reveals how the
global botnet has grown and which countries and cities have played
host to the greatest number of bot infections. During the time of
the Mirai botnet’s peak, almost 20 percent of all attacks
originated from devices in the United States, the second highest
source globally. In 2016 alone, the Symantec Global Intelligence
Network found a staggering 6.7 million additional bots joined the
global botnet.
What’s The Worry?
Bots are Internet-connected devices of any kind, such as
laptops, phones, connected devices and baby monitors, infected with
malware that allow hackers to remotely take control of many devices
at a time, typically without any knowledge of the device owner.
Some botnets (bot networks) might have a few hundred or a few
thousand devices, but others have hundreds of thousands, even
millions, at their disposal. When utilizing these massive networks,
hackers can spread malware, generate spam, and commit other types
of online crime and fraud. Additionally, they can also be used to
capture personal information like log-ins or banking details.
“More than 689 million people were victims of online crime in
the past year1, and bots and botnets are a key tool in the cyber
attacker’s arsenal,” commented Candid Wueest, Norton Security
expert. “It’s not just computers that are providing criminals with
their robot army; in 2016, we saw cyber criminals making increasing
use of smartphones and Internet of Things (IoT) devices to
strengthen their botnet ranks. Servers also offer a much larger
bandwidth capacity for a DDoS attack than traditional consumer
PCs.”
In fact, IoT devices may be part of the uptick in global bot
infections in 2016. During its peak last year, when the Mirai
botnet - made up of almost half a million connected devices such as
IP cameras and home routers - was expanding rapidly, attacks on IoT
devices were taking place every two minutes.
Vulnerabilities Stateside
In the United States, Chicago and Washington D.C. lead the way
in botnets, hosting 4.6 percent and 4.1 percent of the United
States’ bot population, respectively, containing more bots per
capita than the countries of Belgium, Sri Lanka and Austria.
United States Country %
Chicago, IL 4.69% Washington, D.C. 4.13% Atlanta, GA 3.49% Ashburn,
VA 3.23% New York, NY 3.22% Portland, OR 3.18% Los Angeles, CA
2.02% Las Vegas, NV 1.98% San Jose, CA 1.96% Tampa, FL 1.57%
Kevin Haley, security expert at Symantec, explains, “The size of
a bot population can depend on many factors, but cities where there
is a large number of Internet-connected devices, such as computers
or servers, or where there has been a recent uptick in the
acquisition of high-speed, internet-connected devices, seem to be
lucrative sources for cybercriminals to infect.”
While size and location maintain a correlation, where a bot
resides isn’t indicative of where its creator may live. Since
botnets are global in nature, an infected device in the United
States, for example, could contribute to an attack in Asia and be
controlled by a cybercriminal somewhere in Europe.
Warning Signs and Tips to Stay Protected:
Bots sneak onto a person’s device in many ways. The malware is
often mistakenly downloaded through links or malicious file
attachments when opening an email or social media message. Botnets
can also sneak onto devices when a user has visited a compromised
website. A bot might cause a device to slow down, display
mysterious messages, or even crash for no apparent reason.
Consumers should run a full diagnostic if any warning signs
appear.
To safeguard against malicious bots:
- Install robust security software and
firewalls to secure your device.
- Never ignore system updates. Configure
your software's settings to update automatically to make the most
of patches and fixes that vendors provide.
- Never click on file attachments within
emails or messages unless you can verify the source of the
attachment is legitimate. Be particularly wary of file attachments
that prompt users to enable macros.
- Use a long and complex password that
contains numbers and symbols and never use the same password for
multiple services.
- Enable advanced account security
features, like two factor authentication and login notification, if
available.
About the Data
Symantec has established one of the most comprehensive sources
of Internet threat data in the world through the Symantec Global
Intelligence Network. The Symantec Global Intelligence Network
tracks over 700,000 global adversaries and records events from 98
million attack sensors worldwide. This network monitors threat
activity in over 157 countries and territories through a
combination of Symantec and Norton products, technologies and
services, and other third-party data sources. These resources give
Symantec analysts unparalleled sources of data with which to
identify, analyze, and provide informed commentary on emerging
trends in attacks, such as botnet and malicious code activity,
phishing, and spam.
Data is sourced from the Symantec Global Intelligence Network
unless otherwise stated.
Data source for internet-connected populations found at Internet
World Stats as reported on 25 July 2017:
http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
About Symantec
Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC), the world’s leading cyber
security company, helps organizations, governments and people
secure their most important data wherever it lives. Organizations
across the world look to Symantec for strategic, integrated
solutions to defend against sophisticated attacks across endpoints,
cloud and infrastructure. Likewise, a global
community of more than 50 million people and
families rely on Symantec’s
Norton and LifeLock product suites to protect
their digital lives at home and across their devices.
Symantec operates one of the world’s largest civilian cyber
intelligence networks, allowing it to see and protect against the
most advanced threats. For additional information, please
visit www.symantec.com or connect with us on Facebook,
Twitter, and LinkedIn.
1 Norton Cyber Security Insights Report, 2016. Page 5.
View source
version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171011005141/en/
Symantec CorporationRebecca Youngs,
415-767-7752Rebecca_Youngs@symantec.comorEdelman for SymantecLogan
Buesching, 312-297-7429Logan.Buesching@edelman.com
Symantec (NASDAQ:SYMC)
Historical Stock Chart
From Feb 2024 to Mar 2024
Symantec (NASDAQ:SYMC)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2023 to Mar 2024