DDoS attacks have major impact on service providers

A majority of service providers have experienced some form of DDoS attack and have experienced loss of revenue or customers as a result.

This is among the findings of a new report by security and DDoS protection specialist Black Lotus. Only 16 percent of service providers said they'd rarely or never experienced a DDoS attack whilst 35 percent are being hit by one or more attacks each week.

There's no doubt that DDoS attacks have a major impact, 61 percent of all service providers see them as a threat to their business. Attacks are carried out across industry sectors too, 64 percent of platform as a service providers have been impacted by DDoS, as have 66 percent of managed hosting solutions providers and 66 percent of VoIP service providers.

"DDoS attacks lasting hours or even minutes can lead to loss of revenue and customers, making DDoS protection no longer a luxury, but a necessity," says Shawn Marck, co-founder and chief security officer of Black Lotus. "DDoS attacks will continue to grow in scale and severity thanks to increasingly powerful (and readily available) attack tools, the multiple points of Internet vulnerability and increased dependence on the Internet. Enterprises have to move from thinking of DDoS as a possibility, to treating it as an eventuality".

How providers respond to attacks varies too. In the event of a DDoS attack, 34 percent of the surveyed providers remove the targeted customer, and 52 percent temporarily null the route used or block the problem customer. Despite their efforts though 85 percent of respondents say they've experienced customer churn due to DDoS attacks.

The full report is available to download from the Black Lotus website and there's a summary of the findings in infographic form below.

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