DDoS used as a diversion for larger attacks
A specific type of cyber attack, DDoS attacks, has dominated many headlines of late. These attacks revolve around hacker attempts to essentially shut down a website or network–or combination thereof–by sending a wave of traffic in a short amount of time.
Kaspersky Lab recently put forth an interesting twist on DDoS attacks–that they are often just “smokescreens” diverting attention from more severe cyber attacks. In fact, a [link url=”http://usa.kaspersky.com/about-us/press-center/press-releases/2016/Research_Reveals_Hacker_Tactics_Cybercriminals_Use_DDoS_as_Smokescreen_for_Other_Attacks_on_Businesses” title=”recent Kaspersky study”] found that 56 percent of business representatives surveyed agreed with the “smokescreen” theory. That is, they believed that one or more DDoS attacks experienced by their company was a decoy for cybercrime.
DDoS: Distributed Denial of Service. A DDoS attack involves multiple compromised systems (i.e. connected devices at various locations), which are utilized in unison to target a single system. The attack attempts to cause a Denial of Service (DoS), or effectively shut down the targeted system due to the influx of traffic. DDoS attacks often utilize malware or viruses that allow for the takeover of multiple remote computers.
DDoS aligned with other threats
Kirill Ilganaev, head of DDoS protection at Kaspersky Lab said that the “research shows us that DDoS attacks are often aligned with other threats.” Respondents revealed that, when DDoS attacks occurred, they also experienced threats exploits on mobile devices, phishing scams, and other internal and external cyber-attack activity.
Cybercriminals use DDoS as a smokescreen for other attacks, says Kaspersky Lab https://t.co/TjG0xfxA1k
— IBTimes UK (@IBTimesUK) November 25, 2016
IoT connected to recent large DDoS attacks
A [link url=”https://amuedge.com/major-ddos-attack-slams-east-coast/” title=”major DDoS attack”] slammed the East Coast in October, sending large parts of the Internet to a crawl. Experts later [link url=”https://amuedge.com/iot-blame-massive-ddos-attack/” title=”blamed that DDoS attack”] on insecure IoT devices. And that was just one DDoS of many–content delivery giant Akamai recently [link url=”https://amuedge.com/akamai-reports-big-increase-ddos-attacks/” title=”reported a big increase in DDoS”] attacks across the globe.
[relink url=”https://amuedge.com/akamai-reports-big-increase-ddos-attacks/” url2=”https://amuedge.com/iot-blame-massive-ddos-attack/”]
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