DDOS Attacks Profit Off Businesses. Hackers have used distributed Denial of Service Attacks (DDOS) since the earliest days of the web. Get enough internet-connected devices to ping a server simultaneously, and you can knock the server offline.
Keep pining the server, and you can keep it offline, pretty much indefinitely, which usually brings financial ruin to all but the most deep-pocketed companies. Hackers are using DDOS attacks to profit off businesses because it works.
Recent Increase
Recently though, there’s been a notable surge in DDOS attacks off Businesses, and not only that, hackers have begun changing the way they use this form of attack. Specifically, they’ll threaten to perform a sustained DDOS attack against a target company unless that company pays them a fee to go away. The notice is a marked departure from the way DDOS attacks of the past, making it much more similar to a ransomware attack. Hackers issue the threat and wait to see if they receive payment.
According to statistics gathered by researchers at Neustar, DDOS attacks for profit increased by a staggering 154 percent between 2019 and 2020, and there’s no sign that the surge is slowing down. Add in the new wrinkle of threatening to hit a company with such a DDOS attack for profit, the scope, and scale of the threat becomes significant.
It’s easy to see why this is an increasingly popular option for hackers around the world. Of all the types of attacks available to hackers, the DDOS option is the simplest and most straightforward. Anybody with access to a botnet can do it. With the massive size of some of the botnets available for hire on the Dark Web, it’s easy to understand why an increasing percentage of companies are choosing to pay rather than running the risk of shutting down.
Advise if You’re a Victim of a DDOS Attack
Nustar’s Vice President of Security Product Management Michael Kaczmarek, advises against simply paying the toll to the DDOS Hackers.
“Organizations should avoid paying these ransoms. Instead, reporting an attack to the nearest law enforcement field office, as the information may help identify the attackers and ultimately make them accountable. Beyond this, organizations can prepare by setting up a robust DDOS mitigation strategy, including assessing the risks, evaluating available solutions, considering mitigation strategies, and keeping their plan and provider up to date.”
Although the threat of DDOS Attacks by hackers is very real, there’s a lot a company can do to ward off such an attack, and paying the toll only emboldens future threats. The best way forward is to see these criminals held to account. Don’t pay. Make them pay.
