Businesses Beware – DDoS Attacks Are On The Rise Again

British businesses are being warned to bump up their protection against Direct Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks after a new study found that the number of such assaults rose hugely in the last quarter.

Research by Corero Network Security found that its customers had endured a 32 percent increase in DDoS attacks compared to the previous quarter – an average of 4.5 per day.

That’s according to its Trends and Analysis Report for the first half of 2015, which also found that most of the recorded DDoS attacks were smash and grab assaults that lasted less than 30 minutes.

Targeted

The report found that the DDoS attacks targeting its customers in the first three months of 2015 remained relatively consistent from the previous quarter – averaging three attacks per day. The daily attack volume increased in the second quarter to an average of 4.5 attacks.

Corero says that the increasing use of such attacks is down to the ease in purchasing and launching DDoS attack tools, many of which can be obtained for free, and the ability to easily include these into part of a larger strategy.

“Attackers are continuing to leverage DDoS attacks as part of their cyber threat arsenal to either disrupt business operations or access sensitive corporate information, and they’re doing it in increasingly creative ways that circumvent traditional security solutions or nullify the previous effectiveness of scrubbing centres,” said Dave Larson, CTO and vice president, product, Corero Network Security.

“In order to effectively protect their networks, prevent disruptions to customer operations, and better protect against data theft and financial loss, companies need real-time visibility and mitigation of all DDoS attack traffic targeting their networks, regardless of size or duration.”

Under attack

The past few months have seen several high profile DDoS attacks as cybercriminals look to take advantage of slightly less well-developed defences in this area.

NatWest’s online banking system was the victim of an attack back in August, as was parenting website Mumsnet, showing the range of potential targets.

However companies are beginning to fight back against the DDoS threat, with BT announcing today the release of its own cloud-based Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) mitigation platform, claiming that the service will help its customers stay secure amidst growing numbers of cyber-attacks.

Are you a security pro? Try our quiz!