How Earth Day could save both the planet… and the internet

Earth Day really did make a difference – at least in the world of internet security.

That’s one of the conclusions revealed in a paper presented today at the Virus Bulletin (VB2012) conference in Dallas, Texas.

On 22 April 2012, more than a billion people around the world are thought to have done their bit to preserve the environment, with many choosing to turn off their computers to reduce energy consumption.

And what happened? Well, I can’t tell you if the planet has a rosier future, but it’s certainly the case that denial-of-service attacks plummeted according to researchers…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the cybersecurity industry, having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter, Mastodon, Bluesky, or drop him an email.