The first major DDoS attack occurred in 2000. At that time, such incidents were outlandish and caused considerable excitement. Nowadays, the number of cyber-attacks around the world exceeds 200 per day. Statistics grows annually, so almost every time, summing up the year, security experts record an increase in the number of DDoS attacks by half, compared to the previous period.
This does not mean that we all should be afraid of cyber-attacks. The number of attacks increases, but protection against them is improved every year. In any case, it is useful to know how susceptible your business is to outside interference is. Today we will analyze which spheres suffer the most from attacks by hackers and, of course, let you know how you can protect your resource.
Which industries are the most targeted by hackers?
First of all, you need to understand why DDoS attacks occur at all. We have already written about this in one of our previous publications, where we analyzed the reasons why those are launched. The list includes unfair competition, hacktivism, hackers' pampering, and simply extortion. Similarly to real life, people organize such attacks in order to earn money, amuse themselves, or to express their position.
Let's draw an analogy with a toy store in a small city. This is not the most profitable business that does not bring millions to its owner. Let's try to simulate a situation due to which the store will have to be temporarily closed. In a real life, by analogy to DDoS attacks, this may be caused by a call to the police aiming at informing the police about mining. The probability that competitors will have a wish to harm is extremely negligible. Only madmen will threaten and ask for a ransom, and only children will indulge. It is impossible to imagine a situation when someone wants to express an opinion and arrange a public scandal, which is the goal of hacktivism. In fact, there is such a probability, but it's rather low.
Then, for example, let's talk about a large bank. The services of this institution are used throughout the country, so the risks here are different. Everything related to finance needs to be protected by a security perimeter at the initial level. Banks are often targeted at least because of money. Besides, large databases of personal data of customers are also tidbits for hackers.
The situation is similar online. The more visited the site, the more famous the company, and the higher its level of importance in society, the greater the risks of becoming exposed to a cyber attack.
In this case, it should also be taken into account that at certain periods of time, different areas become more popular with online users. That is why the statistics of cyber attacks by business sectors differ in years and even quarters.
Let's compare the statistics from cybersecurity companies by year.
In 2018, representatives of the gaming industry suffered the most. Such services accounted for 64% of attacks. The second place was taken by online stores (16%). Banks and other financial institutions, which we mentioned above, suffered in 7% of cases. The number of cyberattacks on the services of companies that are engaged in telecommunications has also increased.
In 2019, the situation changed slightly. Among the industries that were most often subjected to DDoS attacks, there were banks and insurance companies, organizations that deal with satellite telecommunications, as well as online stores. The list was supplemented by mobile networks and educational services. So, the number of cyberattacks on sites offering online courses increased by 41%.
In 2020, data on DDoS attacks changed dramatically. Because of quarantine, many institutions had to be closed, so some areas experienced a real boom in orders and appeals from customers online. For example, medical institutions' resources traffic increased in several times, so they accounted for a large share of cyberattacks. The number of interventions on educational resources and online services of public and private schools, colleges, and universities has increased even more. Since theaters were closed everywhere, hackers launched attacks against services on which users can watch films and TV shows.
The conclusion is the following: the most susceptible to DDoS attacks are online areas of business, so those account for the majority of Internet traffic. If you analyze which industries always need increased protection, it's possible to distinguish the following:
- e-commerce;
- finance;
- online entertainment services.
The list also includes popular resources that occupy leading positions in their niches. For example, the largest DDoS attacks in history were committed against the well-known Amazon. The victims can be found among many major services, like GitHub, Twitch, eBay, and other giants in the world market. In such cases, each minute leads to a significant loss, and the result of a multi-hour attack is a financial loss of several million dollars.
As practice shows, other business sectors can also be included in the list of the most vulnerable, since the amount of cyberattacks is increasing day by day. And there are certain reasons for this.
Why is the number of DDoS attacks constantly increasing?
Let's highlight 3 factors, because of which hackers are increasingly launching cyber attacks:
- The business is gradually moving online. 10-15 years ago, not every company had its own site. Nowadays a website is the basic component of any business. Most often, both individual entrepreneurs and large companies have their own sites. Traffic is growing, so the number of attacks is increasing.
- The Internet is full of accessible and free materials about cyber attacks. To lay down the site, you do not need to get a higher education. It is enough to understand this area a little bit and read guides from more experienced hackers. Information lies almost on the surface, so each person can just go browse Google to find it.
- New ways of organizing DDoS attacks are emerging. Technology is developing, so hackers come up with new methods of wrecking. The method of launching a cyber attack through botnets can be called relatively new, as we have already described in this article.
Cybersecurity experts predict a further increase in the number of attacks on online resources. This should not give rise to extreme fears, since the current situation is quite logical. But you should not sit idly by either.
You do not need to rely on your fortune and hope that you will avoid those. Given hundreds of attacks per day and the volatile business situation at the global level, you need to protect your resource. And we can prove this necessity.
Why is it important to protect yourself against DDoS attacks?
At the beginning of the article, we drew an analogy and compared a small toy store and a large bank. The probability of pest in different cases will differ, but it is always there. The same applies to small sites and large portals. Even if you are engaged in small business and have not yet reached a higher level, no one can guarantee that some student who is fond of hacking will not launch a cyber attack on your resource. There is also a competition. The owner of the company in the same niche, which occupies a place next to you in the market, can simply resort to unfair measures. As a result, his organization will get your client base, and you will have to recover to your previous level for a long time.
Protection is needed for every business that is active on the network. If you do not protect yourself from hackers in time, you can lose lots of money. Even if your resource is not as popular as Amazon, and you absolutely do not expect malicious actions from competitors, preventive measures will not be superfluous. We consider them even mandatory, so we offer effective anti-DDoS protection for your business. Its advantages include:
- filtering by geographical criterion;
- filtration network capacity - 1 TB/s;
- 24/7 availability of your resource.
Having ordered protection for your site, you will not have to sit on needles and worry about your resource or constantly monitor the world situation and expect the flow of cyberattacks anymore. Contact us to discuss details and order protection against cyberattacks for your resource. Both your safety and our reputation are important for us, so we guarantee the highest quality of anti-DDoS protection.
