Being an IT security professional isn’t easy these days; the cyber threat landscape is constantly evolving. Ransomware, Trojans, Malware, and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks are some of the most common types of threats. Each has different vectors and flavors, and each brings its own risks and costs. IT pros clearly need multiple layers of security, but which layers are most important? Common solutions range from firewalls to anti-virus software and network intrusion and advanced persistent threat tools.

With all those threats, we understand it must be hard to prioritize which security solutions are the most important to implement. However, DDoS attacks are increasingly common and growing more dangerous and sophisticated, so if you don’t have an anti-DDoS solution in place, consider the risks. Can your network threat defense handle a DDoS attack? It’s proven that intrusion prevention systems and firewalls are no match for DDoS attacks.

If you think your organization is unlikely to be a DDoS target, think again; you don’t have to be a high-profile company or organization to be a victim of DDoS. When most people think of DDoS, they think in terms of the incidents that make headline news, when attacks take a website or application offline. However, DDoS hackers seldom launch attacks to take a website offline. An overwhelming majority (93%) of DDoS attacks are under 1Gbps, and last less than 30 minutes. That may sound harmless, but it’s not. Increasingly hackers use “Dark DDoS” attacks as a smokescreen for more destructive, stealthy cyber-attacks.

Sometimes IT security staff don’t even realize when their website or application is undergoing a DDoS attack. Other times, the attack is noticed, but while the IT security staff are busily investigating why their network performance is dragging, the cyber criminals are equally busy behind that smokescreen, testing for network vulnerabilities, installing malware, stealing intellectual property or exfiltrating sensitive data from your network. By the time IT security staff discover the true source of the problem, the hackers probably did plenty of damage. Even if security staff “swing” the traffic out to a cloud-based scrubbing service, that usually takes 10-30 minutes to enforce.

That’s why investing in automated, inline network threat protection may be your wisest move; it detects and blocks even the smallest DDoS traffic packets. There are many security issues that beg for attention, but DDoS attacks pose a double threat because while they sometimes cripple a website, they more often mask more nefarious and damaging network infiltrations. IT security professionals can cover two bases by having an anti-DDoS appliance in place.

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