It seems nearly every day we’re reading about internet attacks aimed at knocking sites offline and breaking into networks (or maybe that’s just me – seeing as it is my job), but although we hear about it all going on, putting a visual perception onto it can be quite difficult. Thanks to the internet, and some dedicated software whizkids, we are able to see the extent of just how common cyber attacks are, and how every country is at risk. Want to know the best part? It’s all in real-time.

Just a side-note – A lot  of the data that powers these live maps is drawn from a mix of actual targets and “honeypots,” – decoy systems that security firms deploy to gather data about the sources, methods and frequency of online attacks. Also, the organisations referenced in some of these maps as “attackers” typically are compromised systems – such as a zombie to a botnet – within those organisations that are being used to relay attacks launched from somewhere else.

Kaspersky Cyberthreat Map

Kaspersky’s Cyberthreat Map is visually stunning. Behind the 3D eye candy and futuristic map, Kaspersky’s various scanning services are working hard to extract and display the anonymous data. As a result, the interactive map allows you to customise its layout by filtering certain types of malicious threats, such as email malware, website attacks, botnet detection and many more.

Kaspersky’s Cyberthreat Real-Time Map

FireEye Cyberthreat Map

FireEye’s Cyber Threat Map looks like something straight out of a movie, you know the type  – it’s 20 years in the future, there is a threat to national security of which the world has never seen before! Set the scene and we’re in the pentagon, there’s your stereotypical grey-haired, chisel-chinned high ranking General explaining the situation to the President and you can see this bad boy doing it’s thing on a background monitor – you get the picture. In terms of interactivity, there isn’t much there, nor is there much in the way of raw data, but there is a cue that lists which countries are attacking who and totals up the attacks that have happened so far for that day.

FireEye’s Cyber Threat Map

Open DNS Lab’s Global Network

Open DNS Lab’s Global Network is a nifty little map in the sense that the graphics behind it are insanely cool, and there are much more aspects in regards to interactivity in comparison to the former maps. The Global Network allows you to search and select countries all across the globe, then toggle types of attacks that country has sent and received.

Open DNS Lab’s Global Network Map

Checkpoint’s Cyber Attack Threat Map

Checkpoint’s Cyber Attack Threat Map is one of my personal favourites of the cyber threat maps. The graphics are nothing to “wow” over, but the information provided and the interactivity is second to none. You are immediately welcomed with the usual graphics of which countries are attacking who, and a live feed of the types of attack that are occurring. But the thing I really like about this one is it displays current attacks next to the total attacks of the previous day plus the current top attacking/target countries. Delve deeper and you can select individual countries, and get their threat stats for the previous week or month! Showing what days had the most traffic, what were the biggest threats and the most frequent attacking country.

Checkpoint’s Cyber Threat Map

Surprisingly, at the time of writing, the United Kingdom does not show up as one of the most targeted countries for most of these maps. However, that does not mean that the Great British public are not targeted. Remember to be vigilant, never open emails from sources you do not know or trust, make sure you have antivirus software on all of your systems, – and that it is updated regularly, and remember if something seems to good to be true, it probably is. #BeCyberSmart people.

Sources: KrebsOnSecurity, Kaspersky, FireEye, OpenDNS Labs, Checkpoint, CyberSecurityBlog

Useful links:

For information about our work to prevent individuals and communities from becoming victims of cyber crime, please visit www.safeinwarwickshire.com/cybercrime

Be Cyber Streetwise is a cross-government campaign, funded by the National Cyber Security Programme. They aim to measurably and significantly improve the online safety behaviour and confidence of consumers and small businesses (SMEs).

Get Safe Online is the UK’s leading source of factual and easy-to-understand information on online safety. Their website offers advice on how you can protect yourself, your computers and devices, and your business against the likes of fraud, identity theft, viruses and other potential online problems.