Why does Activity Monitor show traffic to my external drive?

Because one of my email accounts was hacked a couple of months ago (from my provider's end, I'm convinced), I have been monitoring network usage on my iMac using Activity Monitor. Yesterday, I noticed almost continuous use, altho "spiky".  The spikes were very regular and high and just kept going on and on.  I shut down all my apps (including mail, browser, etc.) except Photoshop.  Spikes still there.  Pulled out the Ethernet cord.  Spikes still there.  Shut down blue tooth, wi-fi - spikes still there.  Overnight, I shut down my computer.  This a.m. when I powered up, still spikes.  I noticed Time Machine was running.  Stopped it, and spikes stopped.  I have my back up on a separate external hard drive.  Why in the world would Activity Monitor show this as "network activity"?  Is there any way I can use settings that would show only "real" network activity, from outside my wi-fi, blue-tooth, and external drives? Spiky right now (can't get screen shot to upload), but more irregular. Have browser, email,and others open. Time Machine not running.
Maybe there's some other app that would help me watch my network usage in the way I would like. Please recommend.   Thx!

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3045965

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