A new study from Corero Network Security has revealed that the most damaging consequence of a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack for a business is the erosion of customer trust and confidence.
The firm surveyed IT security professionals at this year’s Infosecurity Europe, with almost half (42%) of respondents stating loss of customer trust and confidence as the worst effect of suffering DDoS, with just 26% citing data theft as the most damaging.
Third most popular among those polled was potential revenue loss (13%), followed by the threat of intellectual property theft (10%).
“Network and web services availability are crucial to ensuring customer satisfaction and sustaining customer trust and confidence in a brand,” said Ashley Stephenson, CEO at Corero Network Security. “These indicators are vital to both the retention and acquisition of customers in highly competitive markets. When an end user is denied access to internet-facing applications or network outages degrade their experience, it immediately impacts brand reputation.”
Corero’s findings come at a time when DDoS attacks continue to cause havoc for organizations around the world.
Link11’s Distributed Denial of Service Report for Europe revealed that DDoS attacks remained at a high level during Q2 2018, with attackers focusing on European targets 9,325 times during the period of April-June. That equated to an average of 102 attacks per day.
“The cyber-threat landscape has become increasingly sophisticated and companies remain vulnerable to DDoS because many traditional security infrastructure products, such as firewalls and IPS, are not sufficient to mitigate modern attacks,” added Corero’s Stephenson. “Proactive DDoS protection is a critical element in proper cybersecurity protection against loss of service and the potential for advanced, multi-modal attack strategies.”
“With our digital economy utterly dependent upon access to the internet, organizations should think carefully about taking steps to proactively protect business continuity, particularly including DDoS mitigation.”