19% of Web Traffic is Malicious and 95% of Malicious Traffic Comes from Botnets According to New Study

There is a concerning number of malicious traffic on the internet, with an estimated 19% of all internet traffic being deemed malicious with all things having been considered and taken into account. It turns out that 95% of this harmful internet presence comes from botnets according to a report that was released by Trustwave.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that there are just a few botnets that are proving to be most successful. This is despite an overabundance of them online, which seems to suggest that there are a handful which are taking things to another level.

The main goal of botnets is to attempt to compromise the Internet of Things because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up giving them widespread access to numerous appliances. In order to protect themselves from the rising botnet tide, businesses must invest more heavily into security protocols that can render them safer than might have been the case otherwise.

The use of Botnets in DDoS attacks is quite pertinent, as is the manner in which they get used for cryptomining. Installing a cryptominer into an unwary or unsuspecting users system can lead to immense profits for threat actors, and the users system will suffer in terms of performance as well as efficiency. Indeed, consumers that have cryptojackers on their devices will suffer from untenable electricity bills, and they will not be able to use their systems in any feasible way either.

Mirai is perhaps the most consequential Botnet of all, with an estimated 500,000 devices in its network. Legal action has been taken against some users of Mirai, but in spite of the fact that this is the case, it appears that these efforts have mostly been rather unsuccessful. The failure to mitigate Mirai and other botnets like it reveals that this is not the sort of problem that will be going away anytime soon, and cybersecurity will remain spotty at best until swift action is taken.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World