Bots account for half of all web traffic
A new report from Imperva finds that 49.6 percent of all internet traffic came from bots in 2023, a two percent increase over the previous year, and the highest level since the company began monitoring automated traffic in 2013.
The proportion of web traffic associated with bad bots grew to 32 percent in 2023, up from 30.2 percent in 2022, while traffic from human users decreased to 50.4 percent. Automated traffic is costing organizations billions of dollars annually due to attacks on websites, APIs, and applications.
Fake web traffic gets more sophisticated
Bots have been around for a long time, but they're now much more sophisticated, capable of mimicking human behavior, evading detection, and perpetrating a wide range of malicious activities.
A new report from CHEQ shows that latest bots are able to scrape data without permission, inflate engagement metrics, commit fraud, and compromise the security and integrity of websites, mobile apps, and APIs.
Web app attacks target security misconfigurations
New research from Barracuda finds that 30 percent of all attacks against web applications target security misconfigurations -- such as coding and implementation errors.
Analysis of incidents detected and mitigated by Barracuda Application Security during December shows 21 percent involved code injection. Though these were more than just SQL injections, generally designed to steal, destroy, or manipulate data.
Free link checker helps identify malicious websites
Cybersecurity company NordVPN is launching a new, free tool to allow users to check the safety of a website before visiting it.
Link Checker scans a site for different types of malware and delivers a notification about whether it's fake or infected with phishing scams.
Why traditional CMS are an innovation bottleneck and federated content platforms are the future [Q&A]
Traditional content management systems (CMS) developed at a time when all that was needed was to post some text and a few images. But as consumer and business needs have evolved they can prove to be a bottleneck when it comes to innovating and improving a web presence.
Michael Lukaszczyk, the CEO and co-founder of content platform Hygraph, argues that enterprises need a future-proof solution. We talked to him to find out more.
How the internet is keeping over 50s alive
We hear a lot about the negative aspects of the internet, but a new report from Atlas VPN shows that internet users aged 50 and older have a 33 percent lower risk of death than non-users.
Older adults who use the internet have a 19 percent lower risk of a stroke than those who do not, while internet use among individuals aged 50 and above is also associated with a 17 percent lower risk of diabetes.
New non-profit seeks to get justice for cybercrime victims
Internet and cyber crimes cause financial loss and have emotional impact for people around the world. Now though a new non-profit organization has been formed to pursue justice for victims of these crimes.
Intelligence for Good aims to make the internet a safer place for everyone, and to ensure that cybercriminals are not only brought to justice but fear the consequences of scamming innocent people.
How the .ai domain is benefiting cybercriminals (and a small Caribbean island)
Given all the interest in AI at the moment it's no surprise that cybercriminals are keen to cash in with a rise in AI themed attacks.
One way of doing this is with a .ai domain name. An unexpected beneficiary of this is the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla which has .ai as its country code.
Google is making it easier to get the best prices and find discount codes
Google is introducing new tools in both Chrome and Google search that should help to make online shopping a little cheaper. With the holiday season just around the corner and shoppers eager to save money, the timing is ideal.
Chrome users are gaining access to a new feature that will seek out discount codes much like services such as Honey. There is also a new section landing in search results that makes it easier to track down products that are on sale.
Prolific Puma protects pernicious phishing plotters
We're all familiar with link shortening services, those handy tools that allow you to shrink URLs down to a manageable size to make them easier to share.
Of course in the past these have been used for nefarious purposes too, hiding the true nature of a link to get people to click on phishing or malware messages. Now though researchers at Infoblox have uncovered something even more sinister, the operation of a shady link shortening service made especially for cybercrime.
Flaw in social login could expose billions to account takeover
New research from Salt Labs highlights API security vulnerabilities uncovered in the social sign-in and Open Authentication (OAuth) implementations of multiple online companies.
Sites affected include Grammarly, Vidio, and Bukalapak. The flaw has now been fixed but could have allowed for credential leakage and enabled full account takeover. Salt Labs also reports that 1,000s of other websites using social sign-in mechanisms are likely to be vulnerable to the same type of attack, putting billions of individuals around the globe at risk.
Google.com could be about to undergo its biggest change in years
There are some significant changes being tested on Google.com. A major focus on news could on the horizon as Google explores adding a Google Discover-style newsfeed to its search engine homepage.
Google Discover is something that will be familiar to many mobile users, offering up an algorithm-driven personalized selection of news stories. Now very much the same feature is being tested for desktop users.
Businesses struggle with IoT device connectivity
A new report finds that IoT success is being jeopardized with just one percent of respondents achieving better than 98 percent connectivity levels on average across their devices.
The study, by connectivity solutions specialist Eseye, shows that only 16 percent of respondents are achieving more than 95 percent connectivity. Mission-critical IoT devices -- medical equipment for example -- require near-100 percent connectivity and the fact that companies are prepared to accept poor performance is concerning.
Remote work creates extra challenges for network teams
The ongoing shift to hybrid and remote work environments has resulted in key changes to the roles and priorities of network administrators in order to address new connectivity challenges and prioritize and preserve a secure, productive end-user experience.
New research by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) and Auvik shows 73 percent of network professionals reported an increase in workloads, either slightly or significantly, following the shift from traditional to hybrid work environments.
Almost 8 million DDoS attacks launched in first half of 2023
Cybercriminals have launched approximately 7.9 million DDoS attacks in the first half of 2023, representing a 31 percent year-on-year increase.
A new report from NETSCOUT shows global events like the Russia-Ukraine war and recent NATO bids have driven recent DDoS attack growth.
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