What percentage of the Internet Traffic is junk?

Wed May 5 19:47:12 UTC 2004

So instead of trying to determine what percentage of internet traffic
is junk, why don't we set up categories (I saw someone make a start at
it a couple of messages back) and figure out what percentage of traffic
fits under each category. We can come up with our own opinions as to
which of those categories is junk. 

So I guess we would start with stuff that stands as a major category:
e-mail, nntp, ftp, telnet, ssh, web... and then you start doing a lot
of subcategorizations. I imagine it would start looking like a
hierarchical org chart. 

** Reply to message from Mike Damm <MikeD at irwinresearch.com> on Wed, 5
May 2004 11:51:19 -0700

> Very very very near to, but not quite 100%. Since almost all of the traffic
> on the Internet isn't sourced by or destined for me, I consider it junk.
> 
> Also remember that to a packet kid, that insane flood of packets destined
> for his target is the most important traffic in the world. And to a spammer,
> the very mailings that are making him millions are more important than
> pictures of someone's grandkids.
> 
> I guess my point is junk is a very relative term. A study would need to
> first be done to identify what junk actually is, then measuring it is
> trivial.
> 
>   -Mike
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: William B. Norton [mailto:wbn at equinix.com] 
> Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2004 11:21 AM
> To: nanog at merit.edu
> Subject: What percentage of the Internet Traffic is junk?
> 
> 
> With all the spam, infected e-mails, DOS attacks, ultimately blackholed 
> traffic, etc. I wonder if there has been a study that quantifies
> 
> What percentage of the Internet traffic is junk?
> 
> Bill

-- 
Jeff Shultz
A railfan pulls up to a grade crossing hoping that
there will be a train. 