Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks are indisputably on the...
Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks are indisputably on the rise in the U.S., up as much as 45 percent each year, fueled by “low-cost, freely distributed DDoS attack technologies,” Neustar said in a report released Monday. But despite the…
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increase, many companies aren’t protecting their networks and have continuing misconceptions about the nature of the problem, the Internet technology vendor said (http://xrl.us/bmziai). “Tools such as the low orbit ion cannon (LOIC), a favorite piece of attack software, let anyone with a computer unleash a deadly barrage,” the report said. “For as low as $67 a day you can even rent a botnet.” One misconception is that attacks are mostly political, the result of so-called “hacktivism,” the report said. “While such attacks grab headlines -- which is exactly their purpose -- Neustar finds the bulk of attacks still stem from other sources, namely extortionists, cut-throat competitors and others who strike for profit. Industry experts agree that many of these attacks go unreported.” Companies are loath to go public about attacks, Neustar said. “Customers flee, sales drop and stock prices follow suit.” About 10 percent of attacks target the domain name system (DNS) level, though many organizations lack adequate DNS protection, Neustar said. “If your DNS servers are located on-premise, sharing a network connection with all your other devices and servers, a DDoS attack translates to a complete outage,” the report said. “If you're on the shared DNS platform of a registrar or hosting company, your risk is just as large. To protect their other customers these vendors will black hole you, turning off service until they decide the danger is over.” While some attacks have grown more sophisticated, “brute force network-level attacks haven’t gone away,” Neustar said. “In fact, attackers are increasingly using a blend of tactics, mixing both network and application strikes. They seek blind spots in the security architecture, probing relentlessly to try and take you offline.” Where the attacks come from can be hard to pin down, with China, Ukraine, India and the U.S. heading most lists, the report said. “Thanks to a rise in spoofed IP addresses -- those with IP packets whose sources have been forged -- you can’t always be sure where the trouble starts. Without advanced IP technologies, it can be difficult to know an attacker’s actual location. In truth, tracing an attack’s origin doesn’t always contribute substantially to mitigation.”