©  2014,  ALSI/NetSTAR,  Incorporated.    All  rights  reserved.  

         

inCompass State-of-the-Web: Q4-2014

 

 OVERVIEW NetSTAR  is  the  global  leader  in  OEM  URL/Web  Categorization,  Filtering,  and  Security  technology.    With  over  800,000,000  globally  disbursed  endpoints,  it’s  industry  leading  Backend  Content  Categorization  Engine  (BaCCE),  and  unique  visibility  to  the  internet,  NetSTAR  provides  a  quarterly  report  on  trends  that  it  is  seeing.      

Google is still the gorilla in the room  More  Internet  traffic  goes  to  google.com  than  any  other  site.    Facebook  is  the  top  social  media  site.  Amazon  the  top  online  shopping  site.  YouTube  is  the  top  streaming  media  site.    Three  

of  the  top  10  sites  (Gmail,  Yahoo  Mail,  and  Live.com)  are  email  related  sites.      

   

 Web-based Malware is a significant threat    There  is  no  denying  it,  as  the  web  continues  to  grow,  so  do  the  risks.    Some  of  the  trends  include:  

 

• 16.8%  increase  in  phishing  sites  from  Q4  compared  to  Q3;  more  than  a  200%  growth  compared  to  2013.    

• 178%  increase  in  malware  related  URLs  compared  to  2013.    

• Only  65%  of  web-­‐based  malware  are  identified  by  traditional  technologies  in  the  first  week.    

• Malicious  URLs  represent  76%  of  all  malware.    

• Verisign  is  reporting  that  DDoS  attacks  continue  to  increase  in  frequency,  complexity,  and  volume.    

Mobile Ads are leading online advertising growth    NetSTAR  has  seen  a  16%  

year-­‐to-­‐year  growth  rate  in  online  advertising.    64%  of  that  year-­‐to-­‐year  growth  can  be  attributed  to  mobile  advertising;  both  in  mobile  content  as  well  as  mobile  apps.    This  is  a  significant  change  over  2013,  when  mobile  advertising  represented  less  than  25%  of  the  total  online  advertising  growth.  

 

A Global View of the Internet  The  number  of  internet  users  in  the  APAC  region  continues  to  increase  significantly;  representing  over  45%  of  the  internet  users  in  total.    Most  of  

the  growth  is  coming  from  China  and  Malaysia.      African  internet  users  continue  to  also  demonstrate  significant  growth,  but  only  about  25%  of  the  population  has  internet  access.    Web-­‐based  malware  is  still  concentrated  most  heavily  in  North  America  and  Russia.    Between  these  two  countries,  nearly  40%  of  web-­‐based  malware  is  distributed.    In  comparison,  Russia  represents  nearly  50%  of  mobile  app  treats  with  North  America  representing  less  than  1%.    Globally,  social  media  (including  micro-­‐blogging)  is  the  most  popular  use  of  the  Internet,  besides  email  and  search  engines.    Streaming  media  is  one  the  rise.      

 

©  2014,  ALSI/NetSTAR,  Incorporated.    All  rights  reserved.  

Its all about being social, and on the go.    In  the  4th  quarter  of  2013,  tablets  and  smartphones  represented  less  than  

35%  of  the  social  media  traffic.    During  the  4th  quarter  of  2014  over  55%  of  the  social  media  traffic  came  from  mobile  devices  (tablets  and  smartphones).    4%  of  the  traffic  came  from  non-­‐traditional  computing  devices  like  televisions  and  gaming  devices.    In  addition,  mobile  social  media  continues  to  be  a  significant  driver  of  both  paid  and  organic  searching.    

The Internet is Growing, and shrinking. Over  110,000  domains  are  being  added  daily.    A  staggering  number  no  

matter  how  you  look  at  it.    However,  nearly  65,000  domains  are  deleted  on  a  daily  basis;  producing  a  net  gain  of  about  45,000  domains  per  day.    In  their  own  research,  IDC  (a  leading  analyst  firm)  suggests  that  over  30,000  URLs  are  registered  daily  for  pornography  sites  alone.      

       

Cyber Terrorism isn’t the only terroristic activity on the internet. 2014  proved  to  be  a  major  year  for  terrorist  activities  on  the  Internet.    Specifically  there  was  a  major  increase  

in  cyber  terrorism  as  well  as  the  use  of  social  media  to  promote  terrorist  groups  agendas.        In  a  high  profile  story,  a  relatively  simple  DDoS  attack  brought  Sony’s  PlayStation  Network  and  Sony  Entertainment  Network  to  a  complete  stop.    While  there  was  no  known  data  breach,  the  attack  had  a  significant  impact  on  Sony’s  business.    Such  campaigns  are  on  the  rise  worldwide  with  estimates  of  over  400%  increase  over  2013.    Data  breaches  also  continue  to  be  on  the  rise  with  targets  including  home  users,  major  retailers  (both  brick  and  mortar  as  well  as  online),  healthcare,  and  government  organizations  being  the  top  targets.    However,  perhaps  the  most  interesting  trend  noted  by  NetSTAR  was  the  increase  of  using  social  media  and  micro-­‐blogging  as  a  platform  for  terrorist  groups  and  hackers  alike.    There  was  a  300+%  increase  in  the  use  of  social  media  by  groups  like  ISIS/ISL,  and  others,  to  publicize  their  efforts.          

       

   

Headquarters  

Global Headquarters Ebisu East 438 Bldg. 6F 4-3-8 Ebisu Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-0013 Japan Tele: +81-3-5795-4830 USA Office

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NetSTAR  and  ALSI  GROUP  publish  the  inCompass  State-­‐of-­‐the-­‐Web  Report  on  a  regular  basis.    Data  is  compiled  from  the  analysis  of  billions  of  URL  transactions  per  day.    The  inCompass  URL  Categorization,  Filtering,  and  Security  technology  is  used  by  over  150  of  the  leading  security,  online  advertising,  online  market  analysis,  and  big  data  companies  as  well  as  service  providers  and  mobile  operators.    As  result,  the  data  includes  information  from  desktop,  notebook,  mobile  devices,  “internet  of  things”  (IoT)  devices,  and  from  service  providers  and  mobile  operators.    Third-­‐party  sources  include  Verisign,  Alexa,  Daily  Changes,  IDC,  and  Sophos.    All  rights  reserved  by  these  respective  companies.