Just How Big Is The Internet?

A world map of the Carna Botnet's measurements of some 460 million IP addresses that responded to ping requests in June and October 2012. IP addresses shouldn't be confused with individual computers online -- they can harbour a number of devices. The colors indicate worldwide Internet usage, from blue (less) to red (more). The most responses came from big cities such as Tokyo, Seoul, Paris, New York, Washington and Sao Paolo. Meanwhile, Central Africa, the Australian Outback and North Korea are almost dark. Carna Botnet

Mapping the Internet: A Hacker's Secret Internet Census -- Spiegel Online

Just how big is the Internet? An anonymous hacker claims to have answered the question via effective but illegal means. The result is a fascinating reflection of online usage around the world.

Somewhere on this planet there is a hacker whose emotions are likely shifting between pride and fear. Pride, because he managed to do what no one else has managed. And fear, because it was illegal in almost every country in the world.

This person measured the Internet -- the entire public network as it appeared in 2012. To achieve this Herculean task, the hacker illegally used a tool that utilized others' computers across the globe.

The anonymous person simply wanted to find out how many devices that were online could be opened with the standard password "root," he writes in a kind of research report on the project, entitled "Internet Census 2012." The result was the discovery that there are hundreds of thousands of devices secured only with the most common standard password, or without any password at all.

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My Comment: Kudos to this hacker for revealing not only how large the world wide web is .... but also on providing a glimpse on on how vulnerable it is to hacker attacks.