I set this website going a couple of days ago and have let the programme run since then. It shows the number of attempted cyber attacks (of sorts) by source of the attack, by target of the attack, etc. [via Jack]
Here is a screen shot of what I had seen after a couple of days (the data are cumulative).
The primary source of the attacks is China. North Korea doesn't even make the top ten. The primary target is the US.
Some thoughts:
- One of the big points made by those of us who study the economics of crime is that the major economic inefficiency resulting from crime is that there are so many scarce resources devoted to perpetrating and protecting from criminal activity. How many scarce resources devoted to cyber attacks could be used for something more productive? How many scarce resources devoted to protecting individuals and organizations from cyber attacks could be used for something more productive?
- But that first point must be soaked in reality: so long as individuals and organizations perceive that there might be gains from redistributing wealth from others to themselves via cyber crime, then those inefficiencies will persist.
- It makes sense that sites in the US are the major targets. That's where much of the top economic activity is carried out electronically and where the biggest gains can be sought by cyber criminals.
- What the heck is going on St. Louis and Kirksville, Missouri to draw so many cyber attacks to those areas?