Did You Know?

Humans generate only 49% of all Internet traffic.

So where does all the other traffic come from ?

According to Incapsula, a cloud-based security service, 51% of internet activity is created by bots.

These bots include search engines like Google 
and represent 20 percent of internet traffic. 
These are the good guys.

 Then there are the bad guy bots... 31% of all internet traffic. 
They work relentlessly to worm their way into our computers. 

Here's the breakdown on the bad guys:

 

Hacking tools 5%
software that visits a site to crash it or steal data

Scrapers 5% 

  pull info from one site and publish it to another to pillage search-engine traffic

Comment spammers 2%

  post malware and other annoying content to bog down a site 

Spyware 19% 

 covertly gathers info from your site

  Who knew?

As I said in my last post...

It's a crazy world out there. 

♦  ♦  ♦ 

So what can you do to protect yourself? 

1. Make sure your passwords are strong and updated often.  

This is most important!

Follow the guidelines I linked to in my previous post.

2. Disable the "right-click" feature on your blog.

Google to find options to add a gadget that disables "right-click". 

I picked one that I'm most comfortable with and installed it.  

None of my content can be right-clicked to copy now. 

There are other ways to steal content, but it requires more work than a simple right-click.

3. Enable a spam filter for your comments. 

I use blogspots, (find it in your comment settings) it does the job extremely well.  

Once every few weeks I delete the spam comments in the filter 

and rescue an occasional sweet comment that got lost in there.

It's interesting to note that web site analytics record what real people do on a site

 but most web site traffic comes from other computers often with malicious intent. 

Stats overview in blogger also lists the bots traffic. 

Interesting to know, but don't let your curiosity entice you to follow their link... 

you just may be opening 
a can of nasty worms.  

Applause and gratitude to the following major players in this post:

The seashore off the coast of Carlsbad, CA.
I spent some quality time with my honey 
walking those beaches last week.

 The Pelicans of San Diego... 
they make a fine substitute for bots, don't ya think?

The Seagulls on the shore
whose reflections appear to be copies. 
(Ok maybe that was a long shot here.) 

The cliffs of Point Loma
They did a great job at representing 
clear and present danger.  

  And to YOU... my Dear Readers

 Don't forget to leave your URL 
when you leave a comment.

  

  

Welcome to my gardens!
Your visit here is cherished
and your comments the sweet nectar that keeps me posting!
Please leave your Blog URL so I can return the visit.

Huge Increase in Blog Stats?

We are bloggers. 

We cheerfully publish our work online 
for all of the world to see.

We are of the 
"If we build it, they will come" mentality. 

And they do come.

 They view our pics 
and read our carefully crafted words.  

 And WE love the connection it brings
to other warm bodies 
who share our passion.

Warm bodies who pull up a chair and sit a spell 
to enjoy what we create. 

Warm bodies who often leave comments
to add their "point of view" to the dialogue. 

Then there are the "not so warm" bodies. 

They come and they go... by the thousands... leaving no trace of their coming 

except for a HUGE increase in our blog stats. 

Ever wonder WHY they come? 
Too busy to stop?
Not interested in the subject? 
Just browsing? 

I can really only guess, 
but I did start to wondering a few weeks ago  
when I noticed my blog stats increasing exponentially 
from a country that has been in the news lately 
for suspected hacking of prominent websites 
such as the New York Times and others. 

So I did a little investigating...

 Since December of 2012, I have received 3313 page views from that very same country... 
and not a single comment.

What could they be looking for?

Curious.  

Very curious indeed. 

 

Last week, the good people at Google shared this information:
(I'm thinking they may be thinking it's a bit curious, too) 

Read more from Google about internet safety 

 HERE.

Be sure to click on each of the headings to discover the details.

You'll be glad you did. 

And after you've read it... 

Take action!

Do something with what you've learned.

It may save you a little heartache down the road.

It's a really crazy world out there.

Next post I'll share a few more ideas.

Welcome to my gardens!
Your visit here is cherished
and your comments the sweet nectar that keeps me posting!
Please leave your Blog URL so I can visit you!