No, this isn’t some super suspenseful crime story. Rather, it’s a conversation about one of the most common security problems in technology today: bot networks.
Unfortunately, being victimized by malware or a virus today often times means much more than just frustration and lost data. Today, those with malicious intent are able to use those infected machines as part of a distributed network of attackers. These sophisticated Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks aren’t new – but they’re gaining in prevalence and popularity.
The number of denial-of-service attacks in the first quarter of 2012 grew 25 percent compared with the same period of 2011, and was nearly equal to the number in the last three months of last year. Not only has the number of DDoS attacks not dropped from its seasonal high, but the volume of junk traffic being created by them has spiked dramatically—the company reports that it has fended off more malicious traffic in the first three months of 2012 than it did in all of 2011—9.5 petabytes of raw data, and 408 trillion network packets.
It’s important to understand the risks and liability involved so that you can ensure that your security strategy includes tools and tactics for not only detecting malware, but for detecting rogue machines on your network that may be infected and engaging in these types of attacks.
If you’re not sure if your security posture is sound or you think you should be doing more, take a moment and take our risk-free Security Survey.
Reclamere RSS Feed