A global assessment of third-party connection tampering

Have you ever made a phone call, only to have the call cut as soon as it is answered, with no obvious reason or explanation? This analogy is the starting point for understanding connection tampering on the Internet and its impact. 

We have found that 20 percent of all Internet connections are abruptly closed before any useful data can be exchanged. Essentially, every fifth call is cut before being used. As with a phone call, it can be challenging for one or both parties to know what happened. Was it a faulty connection? Did the person on the other end of the line hang up? Did a third party intervene to stop the call?  

On the Internet, Cloudflare is in a unique position to help figure out when a third party may have played a role. Our global network allows us to identify patterns that suggest that an external party may have intentionally tampered with a connection to prevent content from being accessed. Although they are often hard to decipher, the ways connections are abruptly closed give clues to what might have happened. Sources of tampering generally do not try to hide their actions, which leaves hints of Continue reading