Organizations that are debating whether they should invest in some form of distributed denial of service (DDoS) protection will first, and understandably, want to know what their risk of being targeted by a DDoS attack. However, there are no guarantees, of course, because all organizations who are web-based and rely on the Internet are at risk. That said, there are some industries and specific regions/countries that experience a greater number of DDoS attacks.
Which kinds of organizations are most often targeted?
A survey by Atlas VPN found that in June 2021, 65% of all DDoS attacks targeted organizations in the US and UK, and the vast majority (83%) of targets were in the Internet and computer sectors. The gaming industry was a distant second place, suffering 9% of all DDoS attacks. So, based on this small survey it seems that traditional technology businesses are far more likely to be targeted than online gaming sites. That doesn’t mean that gaming companies don’t need DDoS protection; 9% of all DDoS attacks is a very large number. The ripple effects and ramifications of a DDoS attack on a gaming site are important if you are one of the gamers who is using the site, or you own the gaming company. Any gaming site operator knows that DDoS attacks are common and can be devastating to their business, because online gaming requires constant, reliable network uptime. Without consistent uptime, gaming customers will quickly grow frustrated and often leave the site to use another gaming platform. Customer acquisition and retention are vital in any industry, including online gaming.
The higher incidence of DDoS attacks on high tech or Internet companies is more troubling, because they can have far-reaching effects on business ecosystems. For example, ripple effects of a DDoS attack on a web hosting provider or Internet Service Provider can be crippling, not only for the provider, but for its multitude of downstream customers. Equally important, financial services companies must ensure network continuity at all times, to facilitate time-sensitive online financial transactions. Even one small DDoS attack can cause an interruption that lasts a matter of seconds and can ruin online transactions. Telecom and enterprise companies must have robust DDoS mitigation systems in place, not only to protect their own productivity, reputation and revenue, but to protect their business partners who rely on their service(s).
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 flexible deployment models, click here. If you’d like to learn more, please contact us.