A new study finds that distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are a growing problem around the world, but organizations in Europe are particularly feeling the sting.
A report by the Financial Services Information Exchange and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) and Akamai, claims that the number of DDoS attacks against financial companies has increased by about a quarter (22%) year-over-year.
Analyzing the period between November 2021 and November 2022, the researchers found that in Europe alone, the number of DDoS attacks rose by nearly three-quarters (73%), making it the region with the highest spike. Of all the DDoS attacks that occurred in Europe in this time frame, almost half targeted financial institutions.
crime and piracy
DDoS attacks work by sending so many bogus traffic requests to the target website that the server simply cannot handle them all and freezes, crashes, or becomes unable to serve legitimate clients.
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To run a DDoS attack, criminals need an army of internet-connected devices to send these bogus traffic requests, commonly called bots. To integrate a device into a botnet, scammers usually infect it with malware. Anything from smart home speakers to routers can be used as part of a botnet.
Sometimes, attackers use DDoS attacks as an extortion tactic, promising to stop the assault if payment is made. In other cases, they use it as a distraction, to launch a more devastating attack while the IT team is busy fending off bogus traffic. DDoS is one of the primary weapons in any hacker’s arsenal.
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