Bogus referrals is mod_security configuration to blame?

["Wm.A.Stafford" <stafford@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Our site has been getting roughly the same number of hits per month for 
several years.  In Februray the number of hits doubled.  In March the 
number was more than five times the usual.  Looking at the referred-by 
headers we see names like hotnetslots.com and others that it is hard to 
conceive of as legitimate forwarders to an Oceanography site.

We were told that mod_security was upgraded in February so incorrect 
configuration seems the likely cause.

I have two questions:
1. From this sketchy description can anyone venture a guess as to what 
was omitted from the mod_security upgrade.  We do not administer the 
production machine so I just need something to pass along to the admins.
2. Why the thousands of bogus requests to our site?  Not an Apache issue 
but I'm really curious because I can't think of any benefit for the senders.

Thanks,
-=bill

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