The consequences of a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack extend far beyond financial loss, it’s claimed.
A survey of over 5000 businesses by the IT security product company Kaspersky Lab and B2B International found that for more than a third, 37 per cent, a DDoS attack had damaged their reputation, causing profound harm to customer trust. Losing clients and suffering reputational damage was also seen as one of the most feared consequences of a DDoS attack for over a third of businesses (39 per cent). These were seen as more problematic than the costs incurred in fighting and recovering from an attack (28 per cent) or the loss of revenue and business caused by the associated downtime (26 per cent).
The survey also found that over half of those surveyed had lost business data (57 per cent) or access to business critical information (56 per cent) as a result of a DDoS attack and 42 per cent said that it had affected their ability to trade.
The research also pointed to the widespread consequences of this form of cyber-threat at different levels of a business. For example, a third of businesses (33 per cent) stated that a DDoS attack had damaged their credit rating and 35 per cent reported an increase in their insurance premiums as a result.
Evgeny Vigovsky, Head of Kaspersky DDoS Protection, Kaspersky Lab, said: “DDoS attacks are one of the most common forms of cybercrime in the world today. Attackers often plan the timing of their attack in order to maximise financial damage. Our research shows that because this is such a visible form of attack, it is the impact on a company’s reputation and its credibility with customers that concerns businesses the most.
“It’s time for businesses and brands to adopt a proactive, rather than reactive, strategy. One DDoS attack on a company’s online resources might cause from $53,000 to $417,000 in damage, depending on the size of the company. But it is the effect on corporate trust that is the biggest danger. Businesses need to put plans in place to mitigate DDoS attacks before it’s too late.”
