In recent weeks, dozens of companies in The Netherlands and Europe have been targeted by DDoS attacks. This concerns attacks on internet providers, banks and digital service providers. Due to the collaboration and countermeasures taken by the members of the coalition, the consequences for the customers of these organizations have been diminished.
In a DDoS attack (Distributed Denial of Service) cyber criminals try to make a website, server or service inaccessible. Via a botnet, for example, a centrally controlled network of hacked computers, an online service is visited so massively that it is overloaded. Ordinary website visitors can no longer continue to use the online service.
Many digital services and the underlying infrastructure are essential to our daily life. Consider, for example, payment transactions, information services and online hospital patient files. DDoS attacks are therefore not only annoying for an affected company and its customers, but can have major consequences.
A DDoS attack is punishable. The police are committed to detecting cyber criminals and preventing and disrupting cybercrime and DDoS attacks. The police calls on companies that are being attacked to file a report and not to respond to possible extortion.
Using the right mitigation, most of the attacks can be successfully turned down and the service levels are not interrupted. The participants in the Anti-DDoS Coalition, are actively sharing information and helping each other to counter the attacks. The partnership consists of seventeen organizations including internet providers, internet exchanges, academic institutions, non-profit organizations and banks. The coalition aims to investigate and mitigate DDoS attacks from different angles.
Unfortunately, because the attackers are constantly trying new methods and techniques, it cannot be ruled out that the customers of a company or institution will still be affected by a DDoS attack, even if that organization has made every effort to protect itself against it.
