Is your organization safe from DDoS (Distributed Denial-of-Service) attacks? Are you familiar with which DDoS mitigation techniques are more effective? 

With a rapidly evolving cybersecurity landscape, chances are that most organizations are not protected against new and sophisticated cyber attacks.  

DDoS attacks are a type of cybersecurity attack where cybercriminals take control of an organization’s server by flooding the server with traffic. Many of these attacks include a ransom component, where a ransom is demanded in exchange for renewed control of the server. DDoS attacks can be devastating for an organization.

Attacks can lead to prolonged downtimes, loss of important data, and damage to your brand’s reputation. Unfortunately, DDoS mitigation techniques are often insufficient in preventing these attacks.  

Learn more about how DDoS attacks have been changing in the past years, and why standard DDoS mitigation techniques are no longer sufficient to stop these attacks.   

 

How DDoS Cyber Attacks Are Changing  

A report from our partners at Lumen shared that DDoS attacks have grown at an average rate of 15% over the past five years, and that number is continuing to increase.  

Traditional DDoS attacks would spike during the holiday season, and target retail, gaming, and other industries that rely heavily on websites and applications for the majority of their transactions. DDoS mitigation techniques, therefore, targeted specific seasons and industries.  

Currently, however, DDoS attacks are spiking outside of the holiday season, and are targeting all industries. According to the Lumen report, in 2019 DDoS attacks accounted for 25% of all external attacks on enterprises around the world. 

The current reality is that DDoS attacks are a real problem for everyone.  

In the turmoil of the global pandemic, cybercriminals have been taking advantage of the security weaknesses of an increasingly remote workforce. April-May saw the largest number of attacks (929,000) in a 31-day period. In general, DDoS attack frequency increased 25% during the pandemic lockdown months.  

It’s clear that cybercriminals are adapting to the changing cybersecurity landscape, and taking advantage of security weaknesses in moments of transition. Many DDoS attacks extort companies directly and demand more money than ever before.  

DDoS attacks used to be relatively simple, and involve one attack vector. Today’s DDoS attacks, however, include multiple attack vectors that cannot be filtered through simple programs. Cybercrime is no longer the purview of lone actors but is a business in and of itself. Attacks are carried out by businesses, and cyber attack software is being sold in pyramid scheme models.

With this evolving and growing cyber landscape, it’s important to employ the right DDoS mitigation techniques that will keep your organization safe from attack.  

 

Are Your DDoS Mitigation Techniques Protecting You? 

As DDoS and other cyber attacks are becoming more sophisticated, there is a cyber arms race to produce the best mitigation software to identify, prevent, and mitigate cyber-attacks.  

You need to consider if your current DDoS mitigation techniques capable of handling multi-vector DDoS attacks.  Our partners at Lumen have put together a comprehensive guide for assessing your DDoS safety readiness, as well as recommendations for cutting-edge DDoS mitigation strategies.  

Click here to read the PDF, “The new cyber arms race: A changing attack landscape requires a modernized strategy.” 

 

Kat Smith