One Out Of Every Two Businesses Victim Of a DDoS Attack

If you think that DDoS attacks are just a problem for the big guys, a new study might change your mind. The recently published DDoS Impact Surveyfound that nearly one in every two companies, regardless of size, were victims of a Distributed Denial of Service attack. The average cost of a DDoS attack ran to around $40,000 for every hour the attack lasted

The authors of the survey spoke to nearly 300 North American companies, ranging in size from 250 employees to more than 10,000. The responses were very troubling:

• Almost half of the organizations surveyed (45%), said they had been a victim of a DDoS attack, with more than 90% saying they’d been hit in just the last 12 months.
• Nearly three-quarters of the respondents said they had been hit by DDoS attacks more than once.
• Organizations with 500 or more employees are most likely to experience a DDoS assault, incur higher attack costs, and require more employees to combat the threat.
• One in every five companies with fewer than 500 employees were the victim of a DDoS attack.
• Nearly half the attacks lasted up to 10 hours, while nearly one in 10 attacks lasted up to seven days.
• Nearly half the victims reported receiving a ransom note from their attackers.
• The average cost of an attack was estimated at $500,000 (around $40,000 per hour).
• More than half of the victim companies had to replace hardware, with roughly the same number reporting that malware had been installed in their networks by the attackers.
• 43% reported a loss of customer trust and nearly a third reported the loss of customer data
• More than a quarter of victim companies said they had to devote at least fifteen employees to dealing with the aftermath of the attack.
• Less than half the respondents had DDoS protection in place before the attack.

Distributed Denial of Service attacks are no longer rare. In fact, it is quite the opposite. They are now one of the favorite weapons for attackers of all types and with a variety of motivations. Whether it’s to protest the organization, steal information, negotiate a ransom, enhance their reputation, or simply to cause mayhem, few companies are immune. Unfortunately, the cost of disruption will be far greater than the cost of protection.

The impact of this type of attack can ripple through the company, impacting IT services, marketing, sales, and even call centers and customer support. Previous studies have found that companies that have a good and well-rehearsed response in place can significantly reduce their downtime and costs. But like any security risk, prevention is always smarter and more affordable than response.

SiteLock offers the most advanced DDoS solutions on the marketplace. This solution is designed to not only protect from a potential attack but also increase website speed and performance.