Did you know that the frequency of DDoS attacks increased more than 2.5 times between 2014 and 2017—and that they’re only expected to become more frequent? Even though they are a federal crime in the United States, they show no signs of slowing down. You will also be horrified to know that 16 DDoS attacks happen every minute of every day. The likelihood of your organization experiencing a DDoS attack at some point is on the rise.
DDoS attacks have been around for a while now, but like some of the classic horror movie jump scares, many companies still find themselves affected by them when they least expect it and let their guard down. They’ve grown to a level where the FBI frequently gets involved to investigate the nature and scope of attacks. If that doesn’t send chills down your spine…
Take our quiz to see how afraid you should be of DDoS attacks. It will help you learn how to better prepare, so you can save your fear for ghosts, goblins, and things that go bump in the night.
1. What does DDoS stand for?
a.) Distributed Destruction of SalesForce
b.) Delivered Disturbance of Service
c.) Dark Web Defense System
d.) Distributed Denial of Service
2. How do DDoS attacks affect a network?
a.) An abundance of spam traffic
b.) Inhibit legitimate traffic from using your site
c.) Slow access to remote or local files
d.) All of the above
3. What is a consequence of a DDoS attack?
a.) Suffering hours of downtime
b.) Damage to your brand reputation
c.) Loss of productivity & business
d.) All of the above
4. What is a way your organization can prevent DDoS attacks?
a.) Turn off computers when employees leave work
b.) Write out a denial of service response plan
c.) Install firewalls on your network
d.) Proactively layer cloud scrubbing onto your network
5. How worried are you about a DDoS attack affecting your business?
a.) It makes me want to scream. I feel like it’s always lurking around the corner.
b.) I’m a little worried that our network and firewalls aren’t going to be enough.
c.) I’m not terribly worried but sometimes it can feel like a skeleton in the closet.
d.) I’m not worried at all. My organization has the protection of cybersecurity wizards!
Mostly As: They’re coming to get you, Barbara
Do you hear the creepy music in the background? Are the hairs on the back of your neck standing up? Do you feel the inexplicable urge to open a locked door, even though you know that spells trouble? There’s probably not a bogeyman hiding in your supply closet, but you definitely have some gaping vulnerabilities for DDoS attacks in your organization.
It’s time to fortify your network against DDoS attacks before they start wreaking havoc on your operating system, stealing your customers’ information, and rendering your business inoperable.
Do you not have the manpower to set up the necessary cybersecurity safeguards to protect your business from DDoS attacks? It might be time to call in reinforcements, since proactive DDoS protection is not something to drag your feet on. Companies who provide DDoS as a service will take a lot of the legwork off your agenda and help you find the fastest, most efficient path to DDoS risk mitigation before your organization is ever successfully breached.
For many organizations, outsourcing to experts is a much more efficient use of resources than training personnel to deploy internally, purchasing necessary equipment, and coordinating multiple carriers. Additionally, due to the increasingly complex nature of DDoS attacks, it’s challenging for internal teams to remain up-to-date on current trends. There’s no time to bank on being reactive when your business is already down.
If you’d like to streamline your outsourcing options, some cloud service providers (CSPs) offer DDoS protection for links at a 15 percent to 20 percent premium over the cost of the bandwidth — a pricing model that is more likely than not a much better offer than that of scrubbing centers. Because the market has broadened and there are more choices than ever, enterprises should match their risk levels for being attacked with the capabilities of their DDoS mitigation providers.
If you’re starting from scratch on your DDoS protection strategy, it’s the wisest choice for your business to partner with a provider who has years of expertise to help you stay above the fray when disaster strikes. Outsourcing for cybersecurity will give you the peace of mind you need to continue on with business as usual without worrying about what horrors await when attackers find gaps in your security.
Mostly Bs: You’ve got a Poltergeist
Do you feel a little like the doll in the corner of your kids’ room is going to get up and go on a rampage? Do you think your charming neighbor is actually a mad scientist? It could be because your DDoS prevention and recovery plan seems sound on the surface, but may turn from innocent to deadly for your business at a moment’s notice.
In horror films, the fatal flaw is usually the hole in the hero’s plan where they fail to account for the unexpected. Your strategy is similar. You’ve probably added some elements of DDoS protection into your cybersecurity measures, but are you sure you have everything ready for any type of DDoS attack? Like many cyberattacks, there are many kinds of DDoS attacks that can cripple your network functionality. Here are the three main types:
1. Volumetric Attacks
This is exactly like it sounds. Attackers work from multiple locations to generate massive volumes of traffic that completely saturates the bandwidth of a platform, which makes it impossible for legitimate users to access the site—and for important information to get out.
2. Protocol Attacks
These attacks are designed to consume the processing capacity of critical network infrastructure like firewalls and servers. This typically happens by targeting them with communications of malicious connection requests.
3. Application Layer Attacks
Application attacks are the sneaky ones. These are the most sophisticated variety of DDoS attack and they are designed to exploit weaknesses by opening connections and initiating process and transaction requests that take up huge amounts of disk space and available memory, which are already limited.
When you’re building out your DDoS prevention and recovery plan, take the time to understand each type of attack and make the necessary provisions to mitigate the risk and speed recovery times. Just because you’re familiar and prepared for a volumetric attack doesn’t mean that you can’t fall victim to a far more sinister application attack. While it may be more time consuming on the front end, it will keep you from unknowingly wandering past the point of no return.
Mostly Cs: At Risk of a Zombie Apocalypse
Your company is the voice of reason in the horror movie. You know the basics and do your very best to make sure everyone in your organization does too. You warn your friends to stay out of the woods. You know better than to open locked doors (or phishing emails), and you are smarter than the fool who looks Medusa in the eye.
There are always ways to improve your DDoS strategy, many of which start with your incident response plan. Here are some areas to look at to save time and money, as well as shorten recovery time in the event of a DDoS attack on your organization’s infrastructure:
- Response Teams: Your response team should be comprised of key team members, so you’re organized in the midst of an attack. Explicitly define their responsibilities in the plan to prevent any wires from getting crossed.
- Communications Plan: This is arguably the most important part of your plan, as it prevents anyone getting lost in the fray. Keep a list of internal and external contacts that should be informed as well as communication strategies with customers and vendors. Have a clearly defined set of notification and escalation procedures so your team knows who to contact at any stage.
- Systems Checklist: Work with your team to develop a list of assets to assess for threats. This will help you quickly find the source of the problem and identify areas where you could add more security layers as risks and red flags arise.
- Law Enforcement Involvement: Because many DDoS attacks are often tied to ransom demands or other incidents, the FBI requests that you report the incident through their portal or contact your local field office. If you are a LightEdge customer, contact your rep and they will assist you through the process. They will collect information about the nature of the DDoS attack, total losses, and whether or not the associated ransom was paid.
The key at your level of DDoS preparedness is to make sure your plan is a dynamic one. Your team members should be prepared for any eventuality and you should be able to leverage your plan to scale quickly for rapid recovery and risk mitigation as evolving threats arise.
Mostly Ds: Everyone’s Entitled to a Good Scare
You’re the caretaker of the haunted house. You know it inside and out and can easily identify and mitigate risks. You understand the scale and scope of DDoS attacks like the back of your hand, and you’re actively taking steps to prevent them from affecting your organization. That being said, sometimes even the caretakers are affected by the mysterious and spooky. Though they’re typically the last to go, they are still human and still vulnerable to a villain’s attack.
There’s no such thing as too many security measures when it comes to protecting your customers’ information. Is your organization looking for ways to layer up? If you’re already doing what the rest are doing, think about ways you can rise above the competition in customer and company data protection. The sky is truly the limit, and the answers may lie in the cloud.
Leveraging the cloud for DDoS protection is a wise choice for any business looking to add yet another layer to their cybersecurity. The nature of the cloud makes it the perfect, scalable environment to diffuse varying degrees of potential attack through cloud-based scrubbing.
Another bonus comes from the management of cloud-based services. They are often operated by engineers who are constantly monitoring the webs for the latest, most devastating DDoS tactics. This allows you to stay one step ahead of the enemy at all times.
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