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Every Third Public-Facing Company Encounters DDoS Attacks, Kaspersky Lab finds

November 11, 2014

According to research conducted by B2B International and Kaspersky Lab, 38% of companies providing online services (such as online shopping, online media, and others) fell victim to DDoS attacks over the last 12 months.

According to research conducted by B2B International and Kaspersky Lab, 38% of companies providing online services (such as online shopping, online media, and others) fell victim to DDoS attacks over the last 12 months. It proves that Distributed Denial of Service attacks are common online business-related events rather than just isolated incidents. That’s why it is so important to guarantee business continuity by taking steps to protect against DDoS attacks.

DDoS attacks aim to block access to a company’s online resources by overloading them with "junk" requests. Today DDoS attacks are easy and cheap for almost anyone to launch: costs are low, a simple search will find people who can do it for you, and crypto currencies allow everyone to conceal their identities. This accessibility means that any company with rivals or opponents of any sort is at risk.

However, research suggests that IT companies suffer more than most from DDoS attacks: 49% of IT industry representatives reported that they had encountered at least one DDoS attack over the last year. Other businesses that rely on continuous online services to make profits also scored highly: firms engaged in e-commerce (44%), organizations providing telecommunications services (44%) and the media (42%). Financial companies are also among the most frequently attacked organizations – 39% of them reported an incident.

The consequences of DDoS attacks depend on their type and duration, as well as on the field of activity and distinctive features of the targeted company. The research suggests that 13% of attacks render the target sites totally inaccessible. This fate most often befell media sites – 32% of media organizations reported that their web resources had been completely disabled due to a DDoS attack. But even if the attackers failed to completely block user access to a company’s information resources, partial inaccessibility is also a serious problem. For example, 29% of respondents reported that they or their users had faced problems conducting online transactions as a result of a DDoS attack. This problem is especially significant for companies working in telecommunications and logistics – 49% and 45% respectively.

The number of companies affected varies from region to region. Even in North America, where, according to our research, DDoS attacks were less common than anywhere else in the world, nearly a quarter of the companies surveyed (24%) fell victim to them. In Europe, the situation is even more serious: almost a third of West-European (32%) and nearly half of Russian (49%) companies faced a DDoS attack.

"Even though one in three companies have suffered from DDoS attacks, just 6% believe this type of incident is the most dangerous external cyberthreat they face. However, taking down a site or preventing transactions is only the tip of the iceberg. A DDoS attack can lead to reputational losses or legal claims over undelivered services. To ensure that clients have uninterrupted access to their online services, companies need to think in advance about appropriate protection against DDoS attacks", said Eugene Vigovsky, Head of Kaspersky DDoS Protection, Kaspersky Lab.

Kaspersky DDoS Protection is a solution that integrates Kaspersky Lab’s advanced technologies to protect against DDoS attacks. If a DDoS attack is detected by a special sensor, all traffic sent to the client is redirected to special Kaspersky Lab equipment where “junk” requests are filtered out by sophisticated individual algorithms. These cleaning centers are also monitored by experts who can adjust the algorithms if required, even during an attack. This approach avoids overloading of the online customer service even during a sophisticated or previously unknown attack. Read more about the principles of the solution in the brochure.

Every Third Public-Facing Company Encounters DDoS Attacks, Kaspersky Lab finds

According to research conducted by B2B International and Kaspersky Lab, 38% of companies providing online services (such as online shopping, online media, and others) fell victim to DDoS attacks over the last 12 months.
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About Kaspersky

Kaspersky is a global cybersecurity and digital privacy company founded in 1997. With over a billion devices protected to date from emerging cyberthreats and targeted attacks, Kaspersky’s deep threat intelligence and security expertise is constantly transforming into innovative solutions and services to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, governments and consumers around the globe. The company’s comprehensive security portfolio includes leading endpoint protection, specialized security products and services, as well as Cyber Immune solutions to fight sophisticated and evolving digital threats. We help over 200,000 corporate clients protect what matters most to them. Learn more at www.kaspersky.com.

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