IT managers increasingly concerned about DDoS attacks

A survey of UK organisation’s found that 41 percent of IT managers were ‘highly or extremely’ concerned about being the victim of an attack compared to 29 percent in 2012. Carried out by Vanson Bourne, the survey compared attitudes over the last two years among 100 mid to large-sized UK enterprises.

The survey also found that the number of UK organisations experiencing attacks year-on-year had climbed to 25 percent in 2013 from 18 percent in 2012. IT managers in the financial sector were particularly worried with 56 percent now citing a high or extreme level of concern versus 28 percent last year.

Thirty-one percent of respondents said they already had specialised anti-DDoS technology in place. Thirty-six percent stated that they were relying solely on their firewalls to protect them against DDoS attacks and did not intend to augment their protection. Another 24 percent of respondents said they had a firewall in place but intended to purchase specific anti-DDoS technology.

Bob Tarzey analyst and director at UK based analyst firm commented, “Quocirca has seen the same results with its own research. Organisations believe they have the basis for protection against targeted attacks, such as DDoS, when in fact they are referring to traditional security technologies. To be fair, many do understand the changing nature of the threats faced, but over-estimate their capability to mitigate them.”

Another major change over last year’s survey was the perceived motivation for attacks. In 2012 political motives were most commonly cited by 33 percent of respondents, while in 2013 36 percent of respondents blamed ‘Just for Laughs’ as the driving motivation. However, motives varied dramatically between vertical sectors; with the retail and financial sector heavily favouring financial extortion as the main motivation behind the attacks and the manufacturing sector unanimously blaming political reasons. Another interesting finding from the survey is the increasing sophistication and variety of different types of targeted attacks, as 33% of attacks were application layer DDoS attacks, 37% volumetric attacks and 30% were other types of targeted or zero day attacks.

Ashley Stevenson, CEO of Corero comments: “It’s interesting to note that in spite of the significant increase in perceived protection against DDoS attacks over the last year, IT managers are more concerned than ever about the threat of an attack. What’s clearly apparent from this survey is that IT managers still do not properly understand the variety and sophistication of DDoS attacks and the risks that their organisations are taking in relying on firewalls to protect them.”