This Real-Time Map of Cyberattacks is Mesmerizing
Another day, another cyberattack—judging by the tech news media, computer systems are under constant threat. Here is more confirmation of this truth. A map by cyber security firm Norse Corp. allows you visualize these threats in real-time.
In a word, wow.
The map looks like a video game, a cross between Geometry Wars and Missile Command, with colorful tracers connecting the origin of the cyberattack to the targets. The attacks are color-coded by type. Blue for Microsoft-DS, grey for secure shell, peach for a DNS spoof, among others.
Norse Corp. collects this data using 8 million sensors, called “honeypots,” emulating over six thousand applications—Apple laptops, ATM machines, Windows servers, network infrastructure, closed circuit TV cameras—deploying them places where they know hackers can see them. The company is essentially baiting cyberattacks in order to track them. Many of these attacks are probably bots running scripts set to probe any detectable IP address.
It makes for a mesmerizing visual presentation and provokes chilling thoughts about how many attacks happen each day, nonstop, in a seemingly random fashion.
Now, who wants to learn more about UTMs?
