DDoS attacks: anti-virus community has upper hand

Some experts believe the battle against DDoS attacks is being won. So can we all relax now?

Some experts are claiming that the battle against distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks is being won, and that the “bad guys” are scoring fewer successes than they have for the past three years.

However, it would be a brave forecaster who advises we all relax when it comes to DDoS security. Until they find a new way of attacking the big targets, cyber criminals will continue to prey on the unwary and the unprepared.

Estonian DDoS attack period reviewed
Internet security company Kaspersky Labs claimed a “crisis of ideas” had left “the bad guys … in a creative crisis, and unable to conjure up new attacks to target networks”.

The claim, published on computer security website scmagazine.com, was based on Kasperky’s assessment of the period between April and June 2007 – a time when the world witnessed the DDoS attacks against the Estonian authorities.

Incident has “raised awareness of DDoS”
The Estonian incident helped raise awareness of DDoS among many homes and businesses and more people now take its threat seriously as part of a wider internet security strategy.

Alexander Gostev, senior virus analyst at Kaspersky, said, “Virus writers are … incapable of coming up with new ideas, so instead they are trying to milk what they can out of old technologies – and the anti-virus industry is coping quite well."

Criminals combining DDoS and other technologies
But another consultant at the Lab, Shane Coursen, told the website that cyber criminals are now combining strategies, viruses and DDoS attacks, for example, into single attacks – meaning people cannot afford to let their guard down.

The run on the Northern Rock bank in September demonstrated the same effects a DDoS attack could have – with the bank’s customers unable to use its internet banking service for two days.

The IT security experts may have the answers – but until everyone takes up the appropriate solutions, cyber criminals will continue to prey on those who don’t.

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