In the latest report by CDNetworks, a global CDN service provider, the number of DDoS attacks in 2015 increased 118 percent, compared with the year before, and looks set to increase in 2016.

A DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack is carried out to make an online service unavailable by overwhelming it with traffic from multiple sources.

Such attacks can cripple online businesses negatively, impacting an organisation’s revenue, image and operations.

According to the report, large attacks of over 10 gigabits per second (Gbps) of traffic accounted for over 20 percnt of the total DDoS attacks for the first time, signalling a growing trend in the amount of DDoS attack traffic.

In 2014, DDoS attacks mainly targeted gaming companies but in 2015, the scope widened to threaten public institutions and financial companies as well.

In 2016, DDoS attacks are expected to increase not only in frequency but also in the average attack traffic.

Organisations that attempt to fight DDoS attacks with a centralised defence posture will quickly become overwhelmed and buckle under such attacks.

As more companies turn to cloud-based security solutions to diffuse such attacks, cloud-based DDoS defence centres are set to grow.

“The number of DDoS attacks will increase as massive attacks can be launched at increasingly lower costs. Businesses will find that the best defence strategy is to turn to a global cloud-based infrastructure that can diffuse such attacks and ensure that their online operations remain undisrupted,” the Singapore country manager for CDNetworks, Jerry Chung, said.

“This is especially crucial in the financial services industry, where any data breach can result in loss of confidence in the company, negatively affecting its brand image and reputation,” Chung added.

- Bernama