30,000 websites were hacked on average every day in 2012 alone, according to Sophos Labs.

The world is seeing an increasing number of hacks. As hacking proves more and more lucrative and high profile attacks hit the headlines, more and more businesses and organisations are attacked regularly and repeatedly. Attacks range anywhere from malware designed to steal financial details all the way to ransomware that holds companies hostage by encrypting the data on their servers. The variety of threats is growing daily…

But where do all these attacks come from? Here’s a look at the countries with the most hackers, according to research by Akamai of attacks observed in the last quarter of 2014..

Hackers by country

• China (41%)
• United States (13%)
• Taiwan (4.4%)
• Russia (3.2%)
• Turkey (2.9%)
• South Korea (2.8%)
• India (2.4%)
• Brazil (2.3%)
• Germany (1.8%)
• Hong Kong (1.3%)

China is by far and away the biggest source of hacking with nearly half of all attacks originating from the country. The US also houses its share of hackers – perhaps unsurprisingly, given that the US pretty much leads the charts for any web stat.

What’s amazing is tiny Taiwan’s contribution to the total. There are more hackers based there, than there are in India and Germany COMBINED, despite the fact that the country only has a population of 23 million (barely that of just Delhi and Mumbai).

Protecting your company

Hacking is clearly a global phenomenon. It’s important to understand that your business can be threatened from anywhere. Obviously clicking questionable links lurking in unexpected emails from China isn’t a good idea, but you’re just as likely to suffer the same consequences from US based hackers. In fact you’re probably more likely to fall victim to a hacker with whom you share a language and a cultural background.

It goes without saying that staying safe requires ensuring your security software is up to date and you’re running regular security audits for practices, processes and passwords. That said, it’s also a very good idea to have a second line of defence for your business – Employee monitoring software can be a very good way of getting additional protection, as well as enabling you to get a clearer picture of your staff’s working habits.

Solutions such as KnowIT can be installed remotely onto all of your company devices. Once installed the software records exactly what programs and sites your staff uses, as well as the files they access and the communications they send.
It’s a great way to check they’re not doing anything dangerous and be alerted if there is any suspicious activity.

To learn more about KnowIT click here.