One of the most profound societal effects of technology has been democratization. In other words, technological advances have blown away many traditional barriers to entry for all kinds of endeavors. Thanks to Google, for instance, anybody with internet access can find the answer to almost any question within seconds. You can explore the Sistine Chapel without leaving your living room. You can plan your own vacation from your kitchen table rather than relying on a travel agent. Most of the time, that’s a good thing. Unfortunately, one of the things that’s been democratized by easy access to technology is cybercrime.
We used to think of hackers as antisocial geniuses, pulling off technical feats that were totally incomprehensible to the average user. But that’s not true anymore. Today, even a college kid can take down a huge company from his dorm room. And, thanks to tools that are out there for anyone who knows they exist, he can do it without missing a single minute of The Walking Dead.
Case in point: The Christmas Day DDoS attacks on the Sony PlayStation Network and Microsoft XBOX Live. XBOX Live was down for three days, and PlayStation Network was down for five. As it turned out, the whole thing was a publicity stunt, designed to draw attention to Lizard Stresser, a new DDoS-for-Hire product developed by Lizard Squad. As reported in Venturebeat, the tool came complete with marketing text: “This booter is famous for taking down some of the world’s largest gaming networks such as Xbox Live, Playstation Network, Jagex, BattleNet, League of Legends, and many more! With this stresser, you wield the power to launch some of the world’s largest denial of service attacks.” And the prices were rock-bottom, with the mid-range package costing $130 to take down a site for over eight hours.
Since then, the site has been taken offline, and several of the hackers have been arrested. But that doesn’t mean the threat is over, because there are plenty of others eager to step in and fill gap. Thanks to cybercrime as a product, the field of people capable of launching a devastating DDoS attack has just grown exponentially, as has the challenge facing IT staff everywhere.
The task of fending off DDoS tasks is too big, too varied, and too subject to lightning-fast change for businesses to treat it as just another IT project. The irony would be almost funny if the threat wasn’t so big: As DDoS attacks become something available to anybody with a few dollars to spend, DDoS protection is becoming a specialty service, provided by companies that focus on DDoS and nothing else. DDoS attacks are for the masses, and DDoS protection is for the experts.
Don’t waste another day. If you’re not absolutely certain you can handle DDoS protection in-house, find a provider you trust. Look for a company that offers multi-layer protection, constant updates to protect against the latest strategies, and 24/7 emergency service in case your company does become the victim of a DDoS attack. It’s not enough to just protect you from attacks; you need somebody who can get you back online as quickly as possible if something slips through. If your web site is mission-critical, your DDoS protection has to be mission-critical, too.
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