Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are on the rise. A DDoS attack can crash your system for up to 12 hours and leave considerable destruction in its wake. As technology evolves, DDoS attacks evolve with it.
Most organizations understand that DDoS attacks mean trouble. However, many business owners don’t realize how common and sophisticated these attacks have become. They now pose an ongoing security risk that today’s business owners can’t afford to ignore.
Is your business safe? Here are seven common DDoS misconceptions that may be putting your company at risk:
Other Security Issues Are More Important
The media only tells you about attention-grabbing cyberattacks involving ransomware and data breaches. Meanwhile, in small and medium-sized companies, DDoS attacks are multiplying at an alarming rate.
According to the Linkll DDoS Report, the scale and severity of these attacks increased by 71 percent in 2018. That’s an average of 175 attacks per day. At the same time, the average attack volume more than doubled.
DDoS attacks can wreak absolute havoc on your business. Just a few years ago, the UK National Crime Agency reported that seven of the UK’s top banks were brought to a halt after a DDoS attack. The mishap disabled entire systems, and the banks paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to mitigate the damages.
In January and May of 2018, online services in The Netherlands were stopped in their tracks by a DDoS attack. The hackers targeted several Dutch banks and other financial institutions as well as government agencies.
It was later discovered that the attacks were generated through Webstresser.org. This organization was selling DDoS attack services for only £11.
Launching a major DDoS attack costs a hacker next to nothing and requires just a few basic tech skills. Nevertheless, these attacks can cause widespread destruction. Companies are forced to spend substantial time and money on system restoration.
To make matters worse, hackers can use DDoS attacks to keep IT teams otherwise engaged while they invade corporate networks.
Given the nature of these attacks and the ease with which they can be executed, they represent a significant security threat and should be taken seriously.
It Can’t Happen to Me
Many people have an optimism bias. They believe they are immune to a threat just because they haven’t yet been hit with it. People are less likely to fear things they haven’t experienced. When something does hit, they are usually caught by surprise.
Many business owners underestimate the DDoS risk. Unfortunately, it only takes one attack to completely disrupt your business.
Companies mistakenly believe that because they are not multinational corporations, they are of no interest to hackers and therefore not vulnerable to attack.
Unfortunately, hackers do not discriminate. Small, local businesses like restaurants and dry cleaners are routinely victimized by hackers.
Regardless of business size, the cost of mitigating the damages caused by a DDoS attack will greatly exceed the cost of protection.
3. Effective Solutions Are Readily Available
DDoS has been around for a while, so most of those solutions are out of date. Effective solutions should protect against all types of attacks on all network layers. They should react immediately in emergencies and implement the proper protective measures. This level of protection is only offered by a few select providers.
Attacks Can Be Mitigated Within Minutes
In the event of an attack, the first 30 seconds are pivotal. If you take steps to mitigate the attack after just one minute, IP connections will already be disrupted. It could take hours to restore order.
Rapid intervention can prevent additional intrusive actions like infiltration and data theft. Even so, the economic consequences of extensive downtime can be immense. Lost productivity, lost revenue and a tarnished reputation can destroy your bottom line.
The only way to protect your interests is to implement a solution that delivers mitigation within seconds instead of minutes. An intelligent defense system and 24/7 protection can fend off attackers and preserve the integrity of your business.
Our In-house 24/7 Security Operations Center (SOC) Handles That
Industrial-strength attacks require an industrial-strength defense. A SOC is typically flooded with security alerts. Some are disregarded; others are underrated. Still, others are not analyzed in relation to other activities.
Human error can cause risk events. The calculations required to generate meaningful security data are not achievable with people. On the other hand, a completely automated process based on an intelligent and globally networked system eliminates human error and delivers comprehensive results.
Our Cloud Services Provide Security
Although some cloud services do come with basic DDoS protections, those protections are not designed to fend off hard-core mega-monster strikes. The colossal Dyn DDoS attack in 2016 shut down public cloud services globally.
Cloud systems are easy prey for other applications running in the same cloud. If you are running critical business applications in the cloud, beefed-up DDoS protections are essential to ensure the continuing safety of those applications.
Our Hardware Protects the System
Hardware systems deliver high infrastructure performance. However, they only offer static DDoS protection. The level of protection that hardware provides depends on the current version of your filtering software. Unfortunately, filtering software becomes outdated upon release.
Hardware protections were considered DDoS-effective a few years ago. These days, with complex and powerful strikes that combine several vectors and attack multiple layers simultaneously, hardware protections have lost the ability to keep your interests safe.
In today’s high-tech climate, the only reliable and effective DDoS protection is offered by intelligent and networked systems. Using advanced machine-learning techniques to analyze traffic in real-time, these systems can easily identify and profile legitimate traffic.
DDoS has earned its place as an essential element of the IT security infrastructure. Waiting until an attack occurs to implement reliable solutions puts your company in constant jeopardy.
Most business owners understand the risk of running a company without proper protection and are generally proactive about security issues. By addressing the problems discussed above, businesses can remain sustainable while staying safe.