Business

The growing threat of DDoS attacks

SPONSORED: This year has seen a spike in DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks. The African continent has not been spared, and has experienced a 300% increase in these attacks over the past 12 months. South Africa and Kenya have been the target of 59% of these attacks.

10 November 2021

Steve Briggs, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer for SEACOM, explains that a crippling DDoS attack can last anywhere from five minutes to several days. Most commonly, this crime is sophisticated and organised. “As with any crime, there is always a motive,” he says. “This might be the sheer thrill of taking down a prominent organisation, but can also include corporate espionage, data theft, changing or destroying information, or simply causing panic. Sometimes, there’s a financial motive.”

A cyber attack can be remotely instigated, or might start off as innocently as leaving a flash drive in a company’s reception, hoping an employee will plug it in and create a chink in the armour. “Criminals can lurk undetected in a system for weeks or months, gathering information until they are ready to mount an attack,” Briggs warns.

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