Tuning in to the background hum of the net

Everything you do on the internet involves packets of data flying between your machine and whatever you are trying to do, be that bidding on eBay, using a search engine or watching video clips on YouTube.And once you stop doing that thing, the two-way swapping of data ends.Sadly, not all use of the internet is so tidy and well-mannered. As the net has grown so has this “background hum” of rogue data activity. It now generates about 5.5 gigabits of data every second. Not enough to swamp the net’s pipes but a sizeable hum nonetheless.Several sources contribute to that total. Misconfigured hardware and leaks from private networks form part of it but the majority is generated by computer viruses seeking new victims.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-11863294