a 3rd people and UK organisations have suffered a DDoS attack

A third of organisations within the US and UK have suffered a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack within the last one year.

A survey by Corero Network Security found that 38 per cent people companies were prone to suffer a DDoS attack, compared with 18 per cent in their UK counterparts.

The survey of 300 medium- to massive-sized enterprises found that 52 per cent of shops (high street and online) were particularly worried about attacks, compared with 28 per cent of monetary institutions and 11 per cent of producing firms.

Andrew Miller, chief operating officer at Corero Network Security, told SC Magazine that some respondents were oblivious to attacks as they might see that performance was poor, however the reason couldn't be pinpointed.

“DDoS is a significant, growing and evolving threat to global internet commerce. High-profile, ideologically motivated attacks by groups including Anonymous have raised awareness of hacktivist-based DDoS attacks, but any enterprise may fall victim to unscrupulous competitors or cyber criminals,” he said.

“IT directors who believe that they're shielded from DDoS attacks because they've traditional perimeter security technology, reminiscent of network firewalls, in place may well be lulled right into a false sense of security.”

The survey found that 62 per cent of respondents had technology in place to thwart an attack, while 53 per cent were still fascinated with potential attacks.

Miller said: “More US companies have technology than within the UK, however it is an education thing because the firewall does do certain things but not enough to avoid this. It's about education and awareness as all things serve a purpose.”