DDoS attacks used as smokescreens for other attacks

Neustar has published its October 2016 Worldwide DDoS Attacks & Protection Report, which focusses on DDoS attack and protection trends.

The report highlights that DDoS attack volumes have remained high and these attacks cause real damage to organisations.

DDoS attacks are also being used as smokescreens in concert with other malicious activities – such as viruses and ransomware – that result in additional compromise.

Neustar collected responses from over 1,000 information security professionals to determine how DDoS attacks are impacting companies and how they are mitigating the threat.

Findings from the report include:

• DDoS Attacks Are Unrelenting and Show No Sign of Abating: 73% of organisations suffered a DDoS attack. 85% were attacked more than once and 44% were attacked more than five times.
• DDoS Attacks Are Only the Tip of the Spear: 53% of organisations that suffered a DDoS attack also experienced some form of additional compromise. 46% discovered a virus, malware was activated at 37%, and ransomware was encountered at 15%.
• DDoS Attacks Are Time-Consuming and Expensive: 71% of organisations took an hour or more to detect a DDoS attack and 72% took an additional hour or more to respond to the attack. 49% of organisations would lose $100,000 or more per hour of downtime during the attacks.
• Investment in DDoS Protection Shows Promise: 76% of organisations are investing more in DDoS protection. 53% are using traditional firewalls, 47% are using a cloud service provider, and 36% are using an on-premise DDoS appliance combined with a DDoS mitigation service.

More on DDoS attacks

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