The Akamai Blog

Online retail traffic that Akamai delivered during Cyber Monday was up 5% globally compared to Cyber Monday 2020 and 31% compared to average Monday traffic.

Akamai was founded to give the brightest minds somewhere to grow ? and by surrounding ourselves with supportive individuals and an open culture, we can all bring our best, every day. It?s for this reason that our commitment to inclusion, diversity, and engagement is a key cornerstone of how we operate. Not as an objective or goal to be achieved, but as a journey of continuous learning and improvement that we can all benefit from, individually and collectively.

Online retail traffic that Akamai delivered during Black Friday was up 2% globally compared to Black Friday 2020 and 14% compared to average Friday retail traffic. The modest year-over-year increase can be attributed to the significant rise in 2020 traffic due to COVID-19?related lockdowns and restrictions that kept many shoppers out of physical stores.

We are pleased to announce that DataStream 2 is now available for all our customers. DataStream 2 provides customers with detailed log data from requests on the Akamai Intelligent Edge Platform within minutes. DataStream 2 gives customers unparalleled visibility into events at the Akamai edge and puts developers first by empowering them with the data needed to support critical operations.

Encouraging and supporting open discussions about disability and mental health at work. We define disability as a condition that affects everyday activities ? physically, cognitively, and/or neurologically. In Reach helps the Akamai community understand what disability means in the workplace. As a team, we also ensure disabled colleagues have the support they need to thrive ? so that success is always "in reach."

Do you remember the first time you made an online purchase? Me neither. I?ve made so many online purchases over the years, and I?ve probably made more in the past 18 months than in the past 5 years combined.

Anyone running a business is likely familiar with the phrase ?building the plane as you?re flying it.? And through the craziness of the past 19 months, many of us lived the phrase, becoming pilots and engineers of our new realities overnight.

Here?s what I know: My personal email has been ?pwned? or stolen at least 18 times. Here?s what I don?t know: if any of the times I have been unable to log in to one of my OTT subscription services was due to my kids sharing our credentials or because of an account takeover ? that kill chain that starts with harvesting stolen username/password combinations and then testing them via a credential stuffing attack.

It?s an exciting time to be starting a career in digital ? but even more so when it?s at a company like Akamai. An organization driven by a commitment to developing talent within the industry, Akamai is an intellectually rigorous, demanding, and rewarding environment to be in at any level. But for new starters, programs like the summer internship can provide a 10- to 12-week opportunity to meet people and learn new skills ? with real-world experiences, close working relationships, and access to subject matter experts.

Media giant RTL Nederland offers a weather app that gives users the ability to get a comprehensive overview of the weather in their location at the click of a button. Akamai is delighted that this exciting media brand has chosen us to deliver a rich and engaging web experience for its viewers while providing a sustainable infrastructure via our Akamai Intelligent Edge Platform.

Fast Flux is a DNS technique used by botnets to hide various types of malicious activities, such as phishing, web proxying, malware delivery, and malware communication, behind an ever-changing network of compromised hosts acting as proxies. The Fast Flux network concept was first introduced in 2006, with the emergence of Storm Worm malware variants. The Fast Flux network is typically used to make the communication between malware and its command and control (C2) server more resistant to discovery. Akamai?s research team has analyzed sophisticated botnet infrastructure that leverages Fast Flux techniques including domains, nameservers, and IP address changes. Figure 1 shows an overview of such a network, which can also be referred to as a form of bulletproof hosting, that hosts various malicious services. These networks empower threat actors to execute attack campaigns by utilizing network capabilities to host malware binaries, proxy communication to C2 servers, phishing websites, or proxy attacks on websites across the internet.

In our update to Guardicore Hunt see how you can enhance your ransomware protections as well as Zero Trust.

The increased use of smart devices, improved connectivity, and today?s hyper demanding customers are driving the need for digital transformation in the finance sector. Emerging technologies like open banking are creating new opportunities for both incumbent banks and fintechs.

The first-ever Akamai EdgeWorkers Coding Challenge gave participants the opportunity to harness the power and potential of serverless computing using the Akamai Intelligent Edge Platform. Winning developer teams built functions using Akamai EdgeWorkers and EdgeKV products that ranged from DNS acceleration and cost-reducing traffic efficiencies to personalized experiences for news and cloud gaming.

During the pandemic, organizations became more geographically dispersed, even if that only means people working from home instead of the office. As businesses begin to open up again, the trend is leaning toward mobility as a means to support a hybrid working environment, in which employees have more flexibility to work wherever it suits them best. The remote user, who was once the exception, has become the norm.

Over the past five years, we?ve grown Akamai?s security portfolio from point solutions into a comprehensive platform that provides defense in depth to address our customers? biggest threats. The unique breadth of our defenses is important to our customers who want the most effective security capabilities, and more of them from fewer vendors.

?Wellness? is something that many employers are racing to embrace. Good for both their organizations and their people, wellness is an investment in creating a happier and more engaged workforce, as well as reducing the effects of stress and burnout. It has the potential to increase productivity, foster ideas, and reconnect to a sense of purpose ? for both individuals and the business.

National Hispanic American Heritage Month (September 15 to October 15) is a time to recognize the achievements and contributions of trailblazing Hispanic Americans whose legacies have inspired the world. Akamai stands with our American colleagues whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America in celebrating those achievements. And with groups like the Ohana ERG, we?re able to use this month to share insights that help make our company a better place to be.

One of the greatest signs of the success of the internet as a technology is how little the average person thinks about it. I?m not talking about the content itself. The streaming videos, online shopping sites, news and educational content, workplace productivity tools, and many other pieces of content we view and interact with online garner a great deal of attention. I?m instead talking about what?s involved in getting that content delivered reliably, quickly, and securely to a device.