Has Budapest fixed its spam bot problem?
Change language:
Cybersecurity experts noticed a troubling trend when they studied Internet activities in Budapest back in 2011. Budapest was found to be the fifth most infected city in the world for spam bots. These bots end up on unprotected computers and use the RAM to send thousands of emails. Some of these emails are harmless while others are phishing emails designed to trick recipients into following links and sharing personal information.
Cyberattacks went up by 81 percent in 2011 in Budapest. The number of bots operating on unprotected computers was worrisome, but hackers were also actively trying to steal personal information and money.
Seven years later, Budapest is the 10th worst European city for cyberattacks. These attacks are 28 percent more frequent than in the average European city, which is somewhat of an improvement compared to what things were like in 2011.
Spam has dropped by 50 percent since the 2011 study. Antivirus companies have become aware of this problem and have developed better products. It is also likely that more Budapest residents are aware that their computer can get infected by bots and malware if they don’t use a good antivirus program.
There are still some risks Internet users need to be aware of. There are more hackers and scammers on the Internet than ever before, and these individuals are using complex techniques to steal information and money. The hacker group Anonymous received a lot of attention in 2011 after changing the text of the Hungarian Constitution online, but this kind of activity doesn’t represent what hackers actually do. Most of them focus on sending phishing emails or connecting with victims on social media to convince them to share personal information with them.