About a quarter of the world’s internet users live in countries with internet infrastructure that are more susceptible to targeted attacks than previously thought, according to a large scale study conducted by researchers at the University of California San Diego. In some places like the United States, a large number of internet service providers (ISPs) compete and offer services to a large number of users. Also Read | A face search engine anyone can use is alarmingly accurateBut the study found that in some countries, many of whom are in the global south, internet users rely on just a few ISPs for internet access. These providers often rely on a limited number of companies to get access to the global internet and internet traffic from other countries. This could mean that attackers would only need to target one or few of these companies, called transit autonomous systems, to cripple an entire nation’s internet access.

Source: Indian Express May 31, 2022 15:50 UTC