We live in a world where an organization’s reputation is critical to its bottom line, impacting everything from customer retention and loyalty to financial performance and its competitive edge. While leaders understand the importance of protecting the organization’s reputation, cybercriminals also see the value of compromising it. Through various methods to disrupt an organization’s daily operations, sensitive data, and financial performance, their primary goal is oftentimes damaging the public’s trust. Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks have risen in popularity, allowing them to do just that.

According to recent research, the first half of 2024 saw substantial growth in DDoS attacks, with a 186% increase compared to the first half of 2023. The findings show that the industries most impacted by DDoS attacks earlier this year – communication service providers, financial services, and software/web services – are all critical industries that rely on trust as a barometer for customer success.

To fully understand the threat these attacks pose, let’s explore the evolution of DDoS, the reputational impacts from attacks, and best practices to secure organizations from future incidents.

The Evolution of DDoS Attacks

DDoS attacks occur when a malicious actor utilizes multiple source locations to target an organization. Bad actors frequently leverage botnets, or groups of hijacked internet-connected devices to carry out their attacks.

These attacks entered the scene in the late ‘90s. Like other methods of cyberattacks, they’ve only evolved to become more mature and complex. Over the last year alone, security professionals have also witnessed a steady rise in carpet bomb DDoS attacks, which target all IP addresses in a network block to evade detection and constantly change targets to make mitigation more difficult. In the first half of this year, 75% of DDoS attacks were carpet bomb attacks, making 2024 “The Year of Carpet Bombs.” Compared to the first half of 2023, they have increased by 186%, indicating a prominent trend with hackers.

Reputational Impacts from DDoS Attacks

Reputation is undoubtedly a significant driver behind these attacks, as incidents aim to take down an organization’s service for extended periods. When customers cannot access these services, frustration and fractured brand loyalty are likely outcomes. Repeated attacks also paint compromised organizations in a negative light, damaging public trust and causing customers to feel hesitant to entrust their information with a brand. Brand trust plays a pivotal role in the digital landscape, with 75% of consumers reporting they’d sever ties with a brand in the aftermath of any cybersecurity issue.

DDoS attacks can also weaken an organization financially. For example, downtime on services due to a successful attack can drive customers to competitors, leading to a direct revenue loss that could be worth millions. Like reputational implications, damaged trust and reputation can directly correlate with financial losses. As DDoS attacks take down services or, oftentimes, entire websites, customers may not even know about the incident, leading them to perceive the brand as unreliable. This can ultimately cause net losses over time as customers are less likely to make purchases with brands they don’t trust.

While compromising customer or corporate data is not always the primary motive for malicious actors, DDoS attacks also open the door for more sophisticated attacks that persist, such as ransomware. Hackers use DDoS attacks as a diversion, allowing them to enter a network’s “back doors” to infiltrate an organization further while their defenses are focused elsewhere. Potentially leading to significant data breaches – which also impact brand reputation and trust – organizations may face legal consequences, causing headaches that all started from a DDoS attack.

Best Practices for Protection

Organizations must ensure a DDoS expert is on their team to stay ahead of threat actors and remain vigilant. Whether they are internal talent or through third-party support, a dedicated DDoS expert is critical for timely response and mitigation. For smaller or medium-sized organizations that may not have dedicated security teams, third-party partners who provide support through a security operations center (SOC) are the best avenue to take regarding specified attack methods.

Security teams must make and check their lists twice. Reviewing and refining security policies and procedures at least twice a year is the bare minimum to ensure organizational policies are up to date to address the latest threats. Security teams, if able, should also implement an “always-on” DDoS mitigation service to absorb malicious traffic.

Lastly, it’s fundamental that security teams test, test again, and then test one more time. From load testing to ensure they can handle various volumes of attacks to validation testing, teams should ensure they’re continuously testing their software to remain secure. Automated testing tools can make this process more efficient. However, it’s always a good idea to keep a human involved to ensure there are no open back doors for attackers to gain entry.

As DDoS Attacks Grow, Focus on Defense

DDoS attacks are nothing new to security professionals. However, the evolution of attacks, like carpet bombing methods, requires teams to remain agile and on guard for new strategies as they emerge. Staying one step ahead of malicious actors requires a strong security posture. With a framework in place and proper testing, organizations can fend off and mitigate these attacks, ultimately protecting their reputation, security, and bottom line.