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4 Reasons to Invest in DDoS Protection in 2022

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DDoS attacks can mean hours or days-long website outages, a tarnished brand reputation, and huge costs. Any organization in any industry today can – and likely will – fall victim to a DDoS attack at some point.

DDoS attacks happen every 39 seconds. By the time you finish this blog, four DDoS attacks will have been carried out.

We spoke to our very own Chief Security Officer, Dale Drew, to get the lowdown on why companies of all sizes must invest in DDoS protection in 2022. Dale has been fighting internet DDoS attacks for over 26 years. Read on for four key insights.

1. DDoS attacks aren’t going away.

Attackers can carry out DDoS attacks today for much cheaper than ever before. In fact, bad actors can buy entire DDoS systems on the dark web for as little as $10. Plus, they’re able to easily hide their tracks, making their traffic look “clean” to even the best analysts and machines. These factors all create the perfect environment for DDoS attackers to thrive – and for your business to have to deal with the consequences.

DDoS attacks increased by 11% last year, and this year’s attacks are already in the thousands.

“These days, DDoS protection is table stakes if you’re connected to the public internet,” says Drew, “12% of all internet traffic is bad guy traffic, looking for new victims to attack, and there’s no motivation for them to stop. DDoS attacks will continue to trend upwards.”

“12% of all internet traffic is bad guy traffic.”

2. DDoS attacks could take down your service and cost you revenue.

DDoS attacks work by sending an overwhelming or sophisticated flow of illegitimate internet traffic to a targeted server. This can cause your site to become slow – or worse – unavailable. A study from Akamai found that nine percent of a site’s visitors will never return to a site that’s down when they visit, and a loss of visitors could translate to a loss of business. In fact, the average DDoS attack costs a company between $20,000 to $40,000 an hour.

Besides the costs associated with a site outage, attackers are more frequently threatening ransom-based DDoS attacks.  The attacker will typically carry out an attack or threaten to do so, demanding the victim pay a ransom or face further attacks. The 11 biggest DDoS ransom attacks in 2020 resulted in $144 million in payments to attackers from victims.

3. DDoS attacks can damage your brand image.

Especially if your business operates from the web, site outages can seriously affect the customer experience which, in turn, can damage your brand’s reputation. Service availability is critical for organizations in every industry.  If customers can’t rely on consistent access to your services, they’ll inevitably turn to your competitors.

What’s more, customers don’t want to have to worry about the safety of their own data at the hands of your organization. While data may not be the prize to be won in the case of DDoS attacks, vulnerability to attacks, in general, indicates to customers that you can’t be trusted with the information they give you.

4. COVID-19 and remote work have complicated the matter.

The pandemic shifted our entire lives to the internet. From the way we shopped to the way we learned, even our doctor’s appointments – suddenly we were doing it all online. And while security remained a priority for some organizations, for others it was lost in the scramble. This scenario created the perfect opportunity for bad actors to attack.

And attack they did. 2020 alone marked a milestone year for DDoS attacks including the most attacks in a single year, the most attacks in a single month, and monthly attack numbers that regularly outpaced 2019 averages.

“COVID-19 has really changed the way bad guys target companies now. The majority of the concern here is around remote users, which is why network-based DDoS protection is so important,” Drew says, “If you have DDoS protection on-premises, you may not have the quick availability of resources on that premises to react to the attack. If you are a traffic cop, where would you rather fight congestion? On the highway, or the offramp?”

Keep Bad Guys at Bay with a DDoS Protection Solution You Can Count On

When it comes to cybersecurity, DDoS attacks are one of the easiest ways for attackers to win. Luckily, DDoS protection solutions available today can help you rest assured that DDoS attacks won’t take down your website, cost your business money, and hurt your brand’s reputation.

Zayo’s DDoS protection solution is available to any of our internet service customers. We offe

  • A network-based solution that squashes DDoS attacks at the core of our large, global network before they can reach your premises. Our network-based DDoS protection solution leverages Zayo’s tier-1 backbone with over 25 Tb/s of peering capacity.
  • Advanced monitoring, detection, and mitigation technology that filters traffic at the peering edge or redirects it to our scrubbing centers, sending you only clean traffic through your Zayo links.
  • Low latency and disruption because our DDoS protection service layers atop our existing network.
  • Seamless activation for customers already on our network. Customers just need to send us a list of protected IP addresses to get started.
  • 24/7 customer support through our Security Operations Center.
  • An advanced analytics-based customer portal enabling a peek into key insights with attack alerts, enhanced reporting, and other customer management tools.
  • Cost-effective coverage with pricing based on the average volume of traffic we’re protecting and the tier of service provided.

Don’t wait for an attack on your business to start protecting it. Get started with DDoS protection from Zayo today.

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