Every 60 seconds on your web server a minute passes
And during that minute there is a chance that a malicious bot had tried to scan your site for credentials or some other vulnerability. Don't believe me?
Check this out:
This is called background-noise and it is considered a normal part of the internet. Akin busy streets of a huge city, the internet is quietly but constantly buzzing with “life”. However, in contrast to law-abiding citizens, the internet is more like a constant anarchy—you better watch your back or else.
Or else what exactly?
The purpose of these scanners is simple, in fact they don't even try to hide that well — it is trivial to spot them. They are going over the whole Internet, knocking on each door in the hopes it is open. If it is — jackpot, the server might leak some valuable credentials like API keys that can be abused.
This is not a targeted attack, though. This is literally noise, a bit like cars passing by polluting the air. Except some of them can scoop up your data and hold it ransom or simply overload your servers (more links here).
Here is a weird thing: I actually enjoy this. Alright, hear me out — yes it is extra work, maintenance and wasted resources. But this is also a free pentest. All of the companies in the world gathered to help you secure my service, how humbling!
And thus, I use this opportunity to learn more about security myself and deploy measures all of my clients can benefit from: both protection from bots and vulnerability patching. All of this is a marketable extra feature of my service.
Thanks for the noise, I guess?