Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are one of the most easily implemented forms of cyber threats and, in some cases, don’t require much skill to launch. But while these attacks can be initiated with relative ease, they are often extremely costly for companies on the receiving end, particularly in the financial sector.
And it’s getting worse.
The latest data from FS-IAC showed that DDoS attacks on financial firms increased 22% last year and in some parts of the world, financial firms are the target of up to 50% of all DDoS attacks. Not only are they increasing, but hackers are getting more brazen and sophisticated in their uses of DDoS to wreak havoc, with each breach costing financial firms an average of nearly $6 million.
Why DDoS Attacks Target the Financial Sector
While other sectors are certainly at risk, there are a few reasons why cybercriminals are especially interested in financial firms.
- Valuable financial data: First, many DDoS attacks are far more than just a disruptive nuisance and instead distract from a hacker’s bigger goal. Many DDoS attacks cost a company a lot of time and resources to get a system back online. Meanwhile, the cybercriminal is busy elsewhere within the system extracting valuable financial data and logins, or even installing malware to use later.
- Ransomware: Second, because of the highly valuable nature of financial data, hackers may be especially interested in targeting these firms for ransomware attacks. DDoS is a common tactic to implement, with data from Cloudflare showing that 1 in 5 DDoS attacks are for ransom and other threats. Additionally, a 2022 survey conducted by Sophos showed that 55% of financial service firms had received a ransomware attack.
- Third-party vendor access: And finally, because companies rely on financial companies to provide them with valuable digital services, up to 11% of DDoS attacks target financial firms specifically so they can gain access to third-party vendors. This means that when a financial company comes under attack and the third-party vendor is hacked, financial firms can pay the price with the loss of their reputation and customers.
How to Protect Against DDoS with the Right Infrastructure
The good news for financial firms is that it’s not difficult to implement the right infrastructure to fend off DDoS attacks before they become a problem. All you need are the right tools, including a few key services.
Neovera offers robust firewall protection services that will properly monitor and filter all incoming and outgoing traffic for your financial firm, to help keep even the most sophisticated DDoS attacks at bay. And our load balancing services spread out network traffic to mitigate upsurges in online usage to prevent server downtime.
Additionally, Neovera’s intrusion detection services — offered across a variety of our cybersecurity packages — monitor network traffic for unauthorized access, giving our clients the ability to see potential threats before they become problems.
While DDoS attacks are a real problem for financial firms, don’t let the threat of them keep you up at night. When you’re ready to let Neovera help you with your DDoS threat prevention, contact us for a consultation.