If I understand correctly, the access via http is only available for owners of hubs and only GUI(At the moment it is not available for all but the developers, will be released in the next release).
Or someone is trying to do to you ddos via http.
In any case - it is an attempt illegal entry. Bot of hub make the right decisions - autoban!
Perhaps FlipFlop or en_dator explain in more detail.
And... I can not say for sure about the pingers - just do not have enough knowledge