DDoS attacks: business attitudes need to change

A Management Today report shows companies are worryingly ignorant about the danger DDoS attacks present to their business

Companies are worryingly ignorant about the risks presented to their businesses by distributed denial of service (DDoS) and other IT security threats.

That’s the conclusion drawn by a report, published by Management Today, which draws on the findings of research carried out around the world. Despite the growing threat of DDoS attacks, most businesses would rather cover up any attack rather than admit they had suffered it or take steps to prevent it.

The MT article pointed to a report conducted by management consultants Ernst & Young at the end of 2005 that concluded: “"Information security - a critical part of an organisation's ability to manage risk - is not doing nearly enough to keep up with changes. The gap continues to widen between the growing risks and what information security is actually doing to address them."

And yet the cost to businesses each year is measured in the millions of pounds in Britain alone – and that figure could grow unless the cyber criminals responsible for DDoS attacks are discouraged from carrying on.

Sarb-Ox culture won’t prevent DDoS attacks
Increased regulation, like the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation in the USA, now puts IT security “in the boardroom” by making top executives responsible for security breaches. It doesn’t directly influence a businessman’s attitude to DDoS – but Management Today says most executives are more concerned with achieving compliance than actually investing in creating a secure IT and information culture that could prevent, or minimise the effects of, DDoS attacks.

Many businesses have already suffered DDoS attacks – and yet it is thought that not all of them have been reported to police. According to MT, 43 per cent of people who don’t report such attacks cite “damage to stock or image” as their main concern, while another 33 per cent cite “fear of the competition taking advantage”.

DDoS criminals go unpunished
This means that many cyber crimes, and an unknown amount of potential and actual security breaches, have gone unpunished. Because companies are unwilling to “take a PR hit”, they are letting criminals carry on using DDoS as an extortion tool, with renewed confidence each time, and other businesses will be unprepared for what could happen to them.

As the MT report concluded, “Security awareness has to start from the ground up with a corporate culture that recognises the value of information and the need to protect it. The danger to reputation, brand and business is too high to take the risk.”

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