DDoS Attacks Doubled in Six Months

Businesses are facing a surge in DDoS attacks with the number of episodes almost doubling over the last year, according to figures released by Corero. The IT security company claims that organizations encountered an average of 237 DDoS attack attempts per month during the third quarter of 2017 – equivalent to eight DDoS attack attempts every day.

Cesare Garlati, chief security strategist at the prpl Foundation, said: "The increase in recorded DDoS activity is hardly surprising, especially to those within the industry as it is a known trade fact that the security within IoT devices is an illusion. Hackers and criminals alike have caught onto this fact. The Mirai-based DDoS attack was the perfect opportunity to target this issue and call out developers and manufacturers to take an open approach to security.

"Regulators should help by enforcing ISPs to temporarily block IP addresses known from being part of active botnets/DDoS, which would prevent attackers from further exploiting already infiltrated devices. By removing built-in back doors and stopping the practice of shipping devices with either hard coded or difficult to change default user names and passwords developers and manufacturers could ease the problem significantly as well. Following these simple steps could close the gap on security and reduce the impact to those in the real world."