On Christmas
Eve, some of our DDoS predictions for 2015 were
covered by SiliconANGLE.com.
On Christmas Day, one of our predictions happened when LizardSquad wreaked
havoc on Microsoft and Sony with a DDoS attack that paralyzed the Xbox and
PlayStation networks for days. Our Chief Security Officer, Shawn Marck, said in
the SiliconANGLE.com article, “…specifically gaming is at the
center of this trend because of the immediate disruption of high numbers
of users and subscribers who will quickly confirm and spread word of the attack
through social media like wildfire.”
Not 24 hours
after this article posted, this very situation occurred.
In that article
we put forth another prediction: “Size isn’t everything,” says Marck. “While our
network is big, we have some customers with networks that are actually bigger.
Sheer attack volume isn’t always what disrupts service,
mitigation efficacy and expertise matter just as much.”
Here at Black Lotus, we think the recent attack will underscore this
point. Usually, as service providers, when DDoS attacks are massive, we see the
wave effect of it. With this attack, we have not seen a ripple never mind a
wave. This leads us to believe that it was small in size but sophisticated and
specific. As the days pass and more is known about the attack, we’ll see if
we’re right on the size issue. If so, we’d be two-for-two on our 2015 predictions
and 2015 hasn’t even begun.
All this being said, even though we like to be right in our predictions,
we don’t like when it’s at the expense of others. In this case, LizardSquad
affected businesses and consumers alike. It’s unacceptable. Long after the
attacks ended, both companies had to hustle to get all their users, new and
old, up and running. We don’t think we’re going out on a limb when we say that
their security teams are figuring out what to do better in 2015 to avoid
another situation like they faced this holiday season.
Onward and upward for a better, more secure 2015 for all.
PS - For all of you who, like Microsoft and Sony, are assessing your
security plans for 2015 and are curious about how the LizardSquad attack
could’ve been mitigated, contact us.
