DDoS attacks became more costly to businesses in 2017

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are hitting the finances of businesses harder than ever, a new report has found.

The financial impact on small and medium businesses (SMBs) increased to £88,000 per attack on average in 2017, up from £76,000 in 2016.

For enterprises, the average cost leaped to £1.6 million during 2017, rising from £1.1 million the year before.

This is according to Kaspersky Lab’s IT Security Risks Survey, which quizzed more than 5,200 businesses from 29 countries.

When asked about the financial breakdown of a standalone DDoS attack, a third of organisations quoted the cost incurred in fighting the attack and restoring services as the main burden, while a quarter cited money spent investing in an offline or back-up system.

A further 23 per cent said that a loss of revenue and business opportunities occurred as a direct result of attacks.

Similarly, 22 per cent listed reputation damage amongst clients and partners as another indirect consequence of an attack.

Kirill Ilganaev, head of Kaspersky DDoS Protection, said it was wise to anticipate an attack and invest in protective measures.

“It is important to choose reliable specialised security solutions that are based on cybersecurity expertise and tailored to fight the most sophisticated DDoS attacks, which are continuing to grow,” he commented.