Denial Of Services Detrimental to Businesses

According to a recent CSI/FBI Computer Crime and Security Survey, the 600 American companies surveyed lost more than $7 million due to Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks in 2005. These types of attacks, which are becoming increasingly common, pose a serious threat to all companies that depend on the Internet for their day-to-day business operations.

A DDoS attack is a computer crime that makes computer resources unavailable to its rightful owners. The attacks flood the Internet users’ circuit with such a large amount of unauthorized data that the connection essentially freezes up and ceases to operate altogether. Computer criminals are targeting this type of attack at high-profile Web servers to make its Web pages unavailable online, and to block communication between the intended users.

These types of infiltrations can originate from a single source, known as Denial of Service. However, most DDoS attacks now come from multiple sources (Distributed Denial of Service) through the use of “botnets.” Botnets are devices such as computers or servers that have been compromised without the owner’s knowledge. Once these devices have been taken over, they are then used for hostile Internet actions, such as the transmission of SPAM, viruses or DoS attacks. Internet criminals maintain lists of these stolen botnets and sell them to other online offenders for ill-natured purposes.

Computer criminals will sometimes threaten a company with a DoS attack unless that company pays a fee. This game often proves to be a double-edged sword. The companies that pay the offenders will continue to be threatened for additional payments, and the businesses that refuse to pay will become victims of a DDoS attack and lose all Internet connectivity.

Because most modern companies simply cannot function without Internet capability, telecom providers are helping businesses protect themselves against these harmful attacks. With the development of cutting edge DDoS mitigation services, companies can fight back against computer criminals and rest easy knowing that their Internet connectivity will be maintained.

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