Internet attacks from China and US increased in first quarter of 2012, report says

China and the U.S. were the two largest sources of Internet-attack traffic in the first quarter of 2012, increasing to account for 16 percent and 11 percent respectively, according to Akamai Technologies.

Attack traffic from China increased three percentage points compared to the last quarter of 2011 and attacks from the U.S. increased one percentage point in the same period, Akamai said in its First Quarter, 2012 State of the Internet report. Russia ranks third in the top ten and generated 7 percent of all attack traffic, a slight increase compared to last year's results. Over the past four years the U.S. has been responsible for as little as 6.9 percent of attack traffic and as much as 22.9 percent, Akamai said. The highest concentration of attack traffic generated from China was observed in the third quarter of 2008 when the country was responsible for 26.9 percent of attack traffic, it added.