Anthony Chadd, Senior Director, EMEA, Neustar
Across both public and private sectors, nobody is immune to cybercrime. A main area of concern is the proliferation of DDoS attacks which, in a recent report by Accenture, were highlighted as responsible for a large proportion of the costliest and damaging cyberattacks on businesses in the UK alone. It is therefore worth looking at just how much is at stake when it comes to DDoS attacks and the importance of deploying robust solutions to protect against them.
In Neustar’s recent Global DDoS Attack and Cyber Security Report it was discovered that more than four in five organisations had been hit by a DDoS attack in the last eight months. Worryingly, 36% of these organisations admitted to having no knowledge of the attacks, only finding out from their customers.
Year-on-year, cybercriminals are increasingly becoming more cunning and creative in their approach. Whereas in the past, attackers would launch a large scale DDoS attack, completely bringing down a website. Multivector attacks are now the chosen weapon. In other words, hackers will now launch more targeted repetitive hits at a frequent pace. In a recent survey by the Neustar International Security Council (NISC), 73% of IT security respondents acknowledged that recent cyberattacks have changed the way they approach protecting their organisation.
The consequences for DDoS attacks can be devastating for a brand, both in terms of cost and customer reputation. The Neustar report also found that 92% of organisations experiencing multivector attacks also reported theft of intellectual property, customer data and financial assets and resources.
As a result, companies are spending more on DDoS protection than ever before. The question becomes then: how can these solutions be utilised to ensure the most effective defence against hackers? The following steps should be taken to ensure the most robust of defences:
Clean bandwidth/pipe solutions
Clean bandwidth or pipe solutions have been used by companies looking to reduce spending. They are delivered by Internet service providers (ISPs) and content delivery network (CDN) services. While inexpensive, these are limited to smaller scale attacks and in the case of ISPs, depend on the user having a single Internet provider.
On-demand cloud
This is a robust and economical solution and works by redirecting traffic to a mitigation cloud. However, it heavily relies on a speedy failover to the cloud in order to escape any downtime. To counter this, the process can be automated by combining the client’s router and the mitigation partner. A successful service will deliver integrated protection and monitor network and application layer (ISO layers 3, 4 and 7) attacks.
Always-on cloud based protection
This method constantly redirects web traffic, which may cause issues with network latency, even during non-attack conditions. Extra solutions are necessary to conquer application layer attacks like combining with a CDN and adding a cloud-based Web Application Firewall.
Hybrid mitigation plan
A hybrid mitigation plan is the recommended choice and comprises of a mitigation appliance and cloud protection. This plan will halt any form of DDoS attack and automatically activate cloud mitigation if the circuit is threatened.
Finally, it is crucial to have a unified (Layers 3-7) 24/7 Security Operation Centre including a user interface with real-time monitoring and reporting. With this, an organisation is more likely to be victorious over an intelligent hacker.
By following these steps, IT security teams will significantly reduce the risk of being hit by a business-disabling DDoS attack. More broadly, as cyberattacks grow in scale and intensity, applying the correct, well-researched and most effective solutions is an essential starting point to fighting against them.
