JEDDAH: Twelve percent of Saudi companies were targeted with distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks last year, says a study conducted by Kaspersky Lab.
In the case of half of these companies, their official websites were targeted, while a third of these attacks targeted the clients’ portals. Communication platforms were targeted in 38 percent of cases and communication services in 37 percent, local media reported, citing the study.
The DDoS attacks are launched from multiple connected devices that are distributed across the Internet. Unlike denial of source (DoS) attacks, DDoS assaults tend to target the network infrastructure in an attempt to saturate it with huge volumes of traffic.
The Kaspersky study said it is not necessary that the company has external interfaces for users such as public websites and customer portals, or systems for processing transaction to be the target of DDoS attacks because the internal web services, processes and communication are also prone to such risks.
One company out of six around the world was the target of DDoS attack in 2015, said the study.
Some companies found out that the DDoS attack affected their internal webs, while a quarter of the companies said the attack affected their services, while 15 percent said the attack disrupted their operating systems and affected the quality of communications of their Internet providers' network.
Evgeny Vigovsky, head of Kaspersky DDoS Protection, Kaspersky Lab, was quoted as saying that it is important to take DDoS attacks seriously because it is a relatively easy crime to commit but its effects are devastating for the businesses targeted.
He said the study found that in addition to impact of the attack such as the website downtime and the damage inflected on the reputation of the company and the unsatisfied customers, the internal systems of the company might also be hit by the attack.
In the case of half of these companies, their official websites were targeted, while a third of these attacks targeted the clients’ portals. Communication platforms were targeted in 38 percent of cases and communication services in 37 percent, local media reported, citing the study.
The DDoS attacks are launched from multiple connected devices that are distributed across the Internet. Unlike denial of source (DoS) attacks, DDoS assaults tend to target the network infrastructure in an attempt to saturate it with huge volumes of traffic.
The Kaspersky study said it is not necessary that the company has external interfaces for users such as public websites and customer portals, or systems for processing transaction to be the target of DDoS attacks because the internal web services, processes and communication are also prone to such risks.
One company out of six around the world was the target of DDoS attack in 2015, said the study.
Some companies found out that the DDoS attack affected their internal webs, while a quarter of the companies said the attack affected their services, while 15 percent said the attack disrupted their operating systems and affected the quality of communications of their Internet providers' network.
Evgeny Vigovsky, head of Kaspersky DDoS Protection, Kaspersky Lab, was quoted as saying that it is important to take DDoS attacks seriously because it is a relatively easy crime to commit but its effects are devastating for the businesses targeted.
He said the study found that in addition to impact of the attack such as the website downtime and the damage inflected on the reputation of the company and the unsatisfied customers, the internal systems of the company might also be hit by the attack.
