Do you remember the “mixed messages” Dibert cartoon?
Where an “honest” answer meant “mixed messages?”
I had that feeling this morning when I read: Mark Rockwell’s post: German telecom company provides real-time map of Cyber attacks.
From the post:
In hopes of blunting mounting electronic assaults, a German telecommunications carrier unveiled a free online capability that shows where Cyber attacks are happening around the world in real time.
Deutsche Telekom, parent company of T-Mobile, put up what it calls its “Security dashboard” portal on March 6. The map, said the company, is based on attacks on its purpose-built network of decoy “honeypot” systems at 90 locations worldwide
Deutsche Telekom said it launched the online portal at the CeBIT telecommunications trade show in Hanover, Germany, to increase the visibility of advancing electronic threats.
“New cyber attacks on companies and institutions are found every day. Deutsche Telekom alone records up to 450,000 attacks per day on its honeypot systems and the number is rising. We need greater transparency about the threat situation. With its security radar, Deutsche Telekom is helping to achieve this,” said Thomas Kremer, board member responsible for Data Privacy, Legal Affairs and Compliance.
Which has a handy chart of the sources of attacks over the last month:
Top 15 of Source Countries (Last month)
Source of Attack Number of Attacks 
Russian Federation 2,402,722 
Taiwan, Province of China 907,102 
Germany 780,425 
Ukraine 566,531 
Hungary 367,966 
United States 355,341 
Romania 350,948 
Brazil 337,977 
Italy 288,607 
Australia 255,777 
Argentina 185,720 
China 168,146 
Poland 162,235 
Israel 143,943 
Japan 133,908
By measured “attacks,” the geographic location of China (not the Chinese government) is #12 as an origin of cyber-attacks.
After Russia, Taiwan (Province of China), Germany, Ukraine, Hungary, United States, and others.
Just in case you missed several recent news cycles, the Chinese government was being singled out as a cyber-attacker for policy or marketing reasons that are not clear.
This service makes the specious nature of those accusations apparent, although the motivations behind the reports remains unclear.
Before you incorporate any government data or report into a topic map, you should verify the information with at least two or more independent sources.