More Than 70 Percent of Data Centers Reported DDoS Attacks in 2013

More Than 70 Percent of Data Centers Reported DDoS Attacks in 2013

Thirty percent of organizations reported advanced persistent threats (APTs), an increase of 36 percent from a year ago. Botted hosts were the most commonly cited concern; however 57 percent have not deployed a solution to identify employee devices accessing the corporate network.

"From the ISP to the enterprise, IT and security teams are facing a dynamic threat landscape and very skilled and patient adversaries. Our ninth annual report showcases that very clearly," Matthew Moynahan, president of Arbor Networks said. "There is no single, magic bullet solution and it is a mistake to think technology alone can secure a network. Multi layered defenses are clearly needed, but so is a commitment to best practices for people and process."

Just under a quarter of mobile networks suffered impacts on their mobile internet infrastructure, more than double the previous year. While customer visible outages of a mobile network caused by a security incident were down slightly, they still effected over 20 percent.

Application layer attacks continued to increase, and were reported by nearly every respondent, while 17 percent saw such attacks targeting HTTPS.

DDoS attacks also increased dramatically in 2013, as Arbor had previously noted. A recent Prolexic report attributed part of the increase to the use of mobile apps in such attacks, showing the interrelation of vulnerabilities, and corroborating the Arbor report's observations.

DNS attacks also increased, but organizations with no security group formally responsible for DNS security increased to over one quarter, despite a number of high profile DNS amplification/reflection attacks.

Data center attacks that exceeded total internet connectivity nearly doubled to over one third, and 10 percent had over 100 attacks per month.

The ability of organizations to cope with the increasing frequency, scale, and range of attacks may be lacking due to a shortage of cybersecurity skills, according to Cisco.

The WHIR has recently reported numerous new solutions, such as ShapeShifter and "black holes," and acquisitions in network security, such as VMware's purchase of AirWatch, as the industry adjusts to the new threat landscape. Bluebox Security announced an $18 million funding round last week to help it meet demand for its mobile security solutions.