‘Digital transformation’ is one of those buzz terms we often hear used in the corporate world. Yet it’s not a passing fad or a trend, and most organizations are increasingly in the process of embracing it. What exactly does it mean, and how does building a digital business impact cybersecurity, especially in relation to Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks? Digital transformation is the use of software and electronic information storage to replace manual methods with automated, online business processes. The goals vary, from improving efficiency, to increasing outreach or revenue, to expediting transactions, and many others. Online applications are ubiquitous, enabling organizations to provide services, and store or exchange data. The possibilities for digital transformation are extensive and growing exponentially. By definition, it means that organizations must increasingly rely on the Internet to conduct their everyday business affairs.
To give an example, when a retail company chooses to start selling its products through a new online channel, that business decision would likely affect the manufacturing, supply-chain, fulfillment, inventory, and shipping aspects of the business. Connecting the various silos within a company may be challenging in itself, because it requires sophisticated software, as well as the IT and cybersecurity resources that go with them. Digital transformation usually means that a company will also connect and transact with various stakeholders and business partners across the Internet, adding another layer of complexity and interdependence.
Increased Risks
There are countless benefits to digital transformation, but there are also risks. Wherever a company’s IT infrastructure is exposed to additional online software applications, it increases the company’s attack surface, and extends the potential opportunities for threat actors to find and abuse vulnerabilities. Any poorly secured device or software that interfaces with the Internet has the potential to be hacked and become a point of entry for a cybercriminal, or to be harnessed into a botnet that can attack other networks or business applications.
Interdependencies Abound
In terms of what’s at risk, a DDoS attack can block the connection between business partners, taking a service offline, or affecting productivity and impacting business continuity. Reliance on an ecosystem of connected partners carries risk from DDoS, because if one partner goes offline or experiences degraded service quality, the businesses that rely on it will also suffer. Suppose an organization uses a SaaS application to conduct e-commerce, and that application becomes unavailable because it is under DDoS attack; the organization’s business and reputation will be significantly impacted because its potential customers cannot place their orders and may well switch to a competitor that can immediately process their purchase.
Protect Your Organization
When an organization uses a service, it needs that service to be functional all the time; the last thing any digital organization expects is downtime. It’s therefore vitally important that they engage their business partners to ensure they have adequate security measures in place, including real-time DDoS protection.
Protect Your Customers and Business Partners
For those organizations that provide services, as well as protecting themselves from DDoS attacks, they equally have a responsibility to protect their downstream customers and business partners. To protect the ever-expanding web of digital processes and relationships, organizations must recognize the need for a robust cyber-security posture for all parties, and should make always-on, automated, real-time DDoS protection a fundamental component of their cyber-defenses. Download the Corero 2021-22 DDoS Threat Report to learn more.
For over a decade, Corero has been providing state-of-the-art, highly-effective, real-time automatic DDoS protection solutions for enterprise, hosting and service provider customers around the world. Our SmartWall® DDoS mitigation solutions protect on-premise, cloud, virtual and hybrid environments. For more on Corero’s diverse deployment models, click here. If you’d like to learn more, please contact us.