Asia Generating More Than Half of Online Attacks Observed Across Akamai Platform

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 31, 2012  /PRNewswire/ --  Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the leading cloud platform for helping enterprises provide secure, high-performing user experiences on any device, anywhere, today released its Third Quarter, 2011 State of the Internet report, based on data gathered from the Akamai Intelligent Platform™. The report provides insight into key global statistics such as Internet penetration, mobile traffic and data consumption, global and regional connection speeds, and observed attack traffic.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100225/AKAMAILOGO)

Akamai has recorded a 2000 percent increase in the number of DDoS attack incidents it has investigated on behalf of customers over the last three years. Additionally, observations by Akamai indicate that port-based attacks are still prevalent and being launched from around the globe. While the origin of this observed attack traffic could be individuals searching for easily compromised systems or botnets looking to recruit new participants, the observations indicate an ongoing need for solid network and systems hygiene to help prevent further system compromise and infection. The growing sophistication and intensity of Web-based attacks and the ongoing prevalence of port-based attacks highlight both the importance of online security, and the need for a defense-in-depth strategy.

Attack Traffic from Asia
During the third quarter of 2011, attack traffic originated from 195 unique countries or regions, up from 192 in the second quarter. In examining the continental distribution of observed attack traffic in the third quarter, we uncovered that slightly more than 49 percent originated in the Asia Pacific/Oceania region, up from 47 percent last quarter. Indonesia vaulted to the top of the list this quarter, generating 14 percent of observed attack traffic. Taiwan and China held the second and third place spots, respectively, accounting for just under 20 percent of observed attack traffic combined. Myanmar, which suddenly appeared at the top of the list in the prior two quarters, disappeared just as suddenly, potentially indicating that attack traffic has either been shut down, or is now coming from other places. With Myanmar dropping out of the top 10 list, South Korea moved in. The country more than tripled its observed level of attack traffic, representing 3.8 percent in the third quarter. In addition to South Korea and Indonesia, Taiwan, China, India, and Egypt were all responsible for higher percentages of attack traffic as compared to the prior quarter. Attack traffic originating in Europe was down slightly to 28 percent; North & South America accounted for nearly 19 percent; and the remaining 4 percent came from Africa.

Top Ports for Attack Traffic
Attack traffic concentration declined slightly from the second quarter, with the top 10 ports seeing 68 percent of observed attack traffic. Attacks targeting Port 80 (WWW/HTTP) dropped by about a third as compared to the second quarter, while attacks targeting Port 23 (Telnet) grew by almost the same amount. The growth in attacks targeting Port 23 is likely due to attacks apparently sourced in Egypt and South Korea – in Egypt there were over 18x as many attacks targeting Port 23, and in South Korea, nearly 4x as many attacks as the next most targeted port, which was Port 445 in both countries.

Reviewing observed attack traffic from known mobile networks, overall attack traffic concentration declined from the prior quarter, with the top 10 countries generating 76 percent of observed attacks. The list of top ports targeted remained consistent with the second quarter, with Port 445 remaining the target of an overwhelming majority of observed attacks as compared to the other ports in the top 10.

Additional highlights from the report include:
Internet and Broadband Adoption
In the current report, the global average connection speed was recorded at 2.7 Mbps, and the global average peak connection speed was 11.7 Mbps. At a country level, South Korea had the highest average connection speed, at 16.7 Mbps, as well as the highest average peak connection speed, at 46.8 Mbps. Cities in Japan and South Korea continued to hold many of the top spots for highest peak connection speeds. Globally, high broadband (>5 Mbps) adoption grew to 29 percent with South Korea leading at 79 percent. Global broadband (>2 Mbps) adoption increased to 66 percent, with Bulgaria continuing to have the highest level of broadband adoption, at 96 percent. Global narrowband (<256 kbps) adoption continued to decline, dropping to 2.5 percent. Libya's 55 percent narrowband adoption rate placed it as the country with the highest level of connections in this speed range.

In the third quarter, more than 615 million unique IPv4 addresses from 239 countries/regions connected to the Akamai platform – 1.8 percent more than the second quarter, and 15 percent more than in the third quarter of 2010.  Nearly 200 countries/regions saw year-over-year growth, with Brazil, Italy, and China all experiencing growth of 25 percent or more.

As more end-user networks roll out native IPv6 connectivity to their subscribers, and as more and more popular content is made available over IPv6, the number of unique IPv4 addresses making requests to Akamai from a given network provider may decline. Over the long-term, we expect measurements to show movement of unique addresses from IPv4-based to IPv6-based.

Mobile Connectivity
Average connection speeds on known mobile providers ranged from 6.1 Mbps down to 327 kbps, while average peak connection speeds in the quarter ranged from 22.2 Mbps to 1.4 Mbps. Looking at mobile content consumption, users on nine mobile providers consumed on average more than one gigabyte (1 GB) of content from Akamai per month, while users on an additional 75 mobile providers downloaded more than 100 MB of content per month. In addition, based on data collected by Ericsson, mobile data traffic continued to double on a year-over-year basis, and grew 18 percent between the second and third quarters of 2011.

100 Fastest Cities Worldwide
In the third quarter of 2011, analysis of the top 100 fastest cities around the world, based on average connection speeds, reflected the following:

• Cities in Asia continue to dominate the list, including South Korean cities rounding out the top 5 and 57 cities in Japan making the list
• Amsterdam, Netherlands is the fastest city in Europe (#33 out of 100)
• 23 U.S. cities made the list, with San Jose, CA ranking as the fastest (#13 out of 100)

About the Akamai State of the Internet report
Each quarter, Akamai publishes a "State of the Internet" report. This report includes data gathered from across the Akamai Intelligent Platform about attack traffic, broadband adoption, mobile connectivity and other relevant topics concerning the Internet and its usage, as well as trends seen in this data over time. To view the full report or access past reports, please visit www.akamai.com/stateoftheinternet. This site also houses the companion data visualization tool, which allows users to generate and download graphs highlighting and comparing average connection speed, average peak connection speed and high broadband/broadband/narrowband adoption rates. To download the figures from the third quarter 2011 State of the Internet report, please visit http://wwwns.akamai.com/soti/soti_q311_figures.zip. A webinar discussing the findings of this report is scheduled for February 14, 2012. Register for the event at: http://reg.dispeak.com/c/akamai/soti/soti-feb12/r.html

About Akamai
Akamai® is the leading cloud platform for helping enterprises provide secure, high-performing user experiences on any device, anywhere.  At the core of the Company's solutions is the Akamai Intelligent Platform™ providing extensive reach, coupled with unmatched reliability, security, visibility and expertise.  Akamai removes the complexities of connecting the increasingly mobile world, supporting 24/7 consumer demand, and enabling enterprises to securely leverage the cloud.  To learn more about how Akamai is accelerating the pace of innovation in a hyperconnected world, please visit www.akamai.com or blogs.akamai.com, and follow @Akamai on Twitter.

SOURCE Akamai Technologies, Inc.