UK-based IT solutions firm, NCC Group, today anounced a new service that lets organizations simulate the world’s most common form of cyber attack – DDoS attacks.
The new “DDoS Assured” service helps companies understand how their IT security systems hold up to DDoS attacks, through an offering that emulates a DDoS attack in a secure, controlled environment.
In addition to offering the simulation service, the NCC Group provides security recommendations to clients based on the attack simulation results.
The company said its DDoS simulation solution currently focuses on application layer (layer 7) attacks, an increasingly common form of attack. When it comes to DDoS attacks, the idea that massive bandwidth cyber attacks inflict the most damage to organizations isn’t always true.
According to recent research coming from Radware, “smaller” application-layer attacks can actually cause more damage than DDoS attacks that gobble ten times the amount of bandwidth. To support that argument, Radware’s research showed that 76 percent of attacks were less than 1Gbps in bandwidth, with 32 percent less than 10Mbps. Only nine percent of attacks in 2011 were over 10Gbps.
The effects a DDoS attack can be devastating to an organization’s brand and operations. According to the results of a recent survey conducted by NeuStar, a majority (three-quarters) of the IT professionals said that they fear negative brand impact or customer experiences because of such an attack.
“The full impact of a DDoS attack has been widely reported due to a number of high-profile cases,” said Paul Vlissidis, technical director at NCC Group. “As awareness of a potential attack has grown, many companies have wisely invested in mitigation services. But these services are potentially useless if they’re not tested – and tested by an independent third party.”
Related Reading: Creating a DDoS Attack Action Plan
Related Reading: DDoS Attacks – Size Doesn’t Matter, Says Radware