The report covers a wide range of topics, from distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and major industry trends such as SDN/NFV and IPv6 adoption to key organizational issues such as incident response training, staffing and budgets. Its focus is on the operational challenges network operators face daily from cyberthreats and the strategies adopted to address and mitigate them.
THREAT LANDSCAPE: The exploitation of IoT devices and innovation from DDoS attack services are leading to more frequent and complex attacks.
- Size: Fifty-seven percent of enterprises and 45 percent of data center operators saw their internet bandwidth saturated due to DDoS attacks.
- Frequency: There were 7.5 million DDoS attacks in 2017, according to data from NETSCOUT Arbor’s Active Threat Level Analysis System (ATLAS) infrastructure which covers approximately one-third of global internet traffic. Service provider respondents experienced more volumetric attacks while enterprises reported a 30 percent increase in stealthy application-layer attacks.
- Complexity: Fifty-nine percent of service providers and 48 percent of enterprises experienced multi-vector attacks, a 20 percent increase over last year. Multi-vector attacks combine high volume floods, application-layer attacks and TCP-state exhaustion attacks in a single sustained offensive, increasing mitigation complexity and attackers’ chances for success.
CONSEQUENCES: Successful DDoS attacks are having greater operational and financial impact.
· Fifty-seven percent cited reputation/brand damage as the main business impact, with operational expenses second.
· Fifty-six percent experienced a financial impact between $10,000 and $100,000, almost double the proportion from 2016.
· Forty-eight percent of data center operators said customer churn was a key concern following a successful attack.
DEFENSE: Network and security teams, the guardians of the connected world, are challenged by an active and complex threat landscape, as well as persistent staffing issues.
· Eighty-eight percent of service providers utilize Intelligent DDoS Mitigation Solutions and 36 percent utilize technology that automates DDoS mitigation. Increased investment in specialized tools automation is driven by the sheer number of attacks faced in service provider networks.
· Attack frequency is also driving demand for managed security services. Thirty-eight percent of enterprises relied on third-party and outsourced services, a jump from 28 percent the previous year. Only 50 percent carried out defensive drills, and the proportion of respondents carrying out drills at least every quarter fell 20 percent.
· Fifty-four percent of enterprises and 48 percent of service providers have difficulty hiring and retaining skilled personnel.
