Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks cause far-ranging damage, but research suggests that they also open the door to secondary attacks. About a third of DDoS hits are accompanied by network breaches.
According to respondents in a survey by Kaspersky Lab, 32% of serious DDoS attacks coincided with a network intrusion. Although it is hard to trace two different attacks to a single source, survey results provide evidence that DDoS attacks may lead to additional damage, including loss or theft of sensitive data.
Small businesses were most likely to lose data as a result of a DDoS attack—31% of SMBs reported data loss, compared with 22% of enterprises.
“Businesses have to re-evaluate their perception of a DDoS attack,” said Evgeny Vigovsky, head of Kaspersky DDoS protection at Kaspersky Lab. “The report clearly shows that the damage scope from such attacks goes far beyond the temporary downtime of a corporate website. Companies report total disruption to their operations, and in some cases—loss of sensitive data.”
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