DDoS attacks: past, present and future

Abstract

Recently, US web-based hosting service GitHub was hit by the largest distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack in history. It was subjected to a colossal 1.35Tbps flood of traffic: unknown hackers attempted to take the platform offline, resulting in major websites across large portions of the US being out of action for a number of hours. DDoS attacks have reached new levels in the past year, advancing in both style and severity, with recent trends indicating we can expect to see more of the same in 2018. To stand a chance at winning in the cyberwar, organisations should place as much emphasis on cyber-security as they do on any other part of their business. Failure to give cyber-security the attention it deserves will not only leave businesses at risk of being the next victim of a DDoS attack, but also exposes them to wider knock-on reputational and financial damage, says Anthony Chadd of Neustar.