Businesses Blame Rivals for Staging DDoS Attacks

Woburn, MA – March 1, 2017 – According to Kaspersky Lab's research, more than two in five (43%) businesses who were victim to a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack on their IT system believe their competitors were behind it. The research conducted by Kaspersky Lab and B2B International, shows that businesses think rival firms are considered more likely culprits than cybercriminals, which were cited as suspects by fewer than two in five (38%) victims.

Kaspersky Lab’s 2016 IT Security Risks study, found that industrial sabotage was considered to be the most likely reason behind a DDoS attack, coming out higher than political conspiracy and personal vendettas against a business. Only one in five attack victims (20%) blamed foreign governments and secret service organizations; with the same proportion (21%) suspecting disgruntled former employees.

When assessing the global picture, more than half (56%) of DDoS victims in Asia Pacific blame competitors, and over a quarter blame foreign governments (28%). Personal grudges carry more suspicion in the region too; one in three (33%) points the finger at former staff. However, only a third (37%) of businesses in Western Europe suspect foul play by their competitors with a fifth (17%) blaming foreign governments.

Looking at attitudes by business size, businesses at the smaller end of the scale are more likely to suspect their rivals of staging an experienced DDoS attack. 48 percent of SMB representatives surveyed believe this to be the case compared to only 36 percent of enterprise respondents. In contrast, respondents from big companies put more blame on former employees and foreign governments.

“It is clear that businesses feel their IT systems and private data are under siege from all sides,” says Kirill Ilganaev, head of Kaspersky DDoS protection at Kaspersky Lab. “With DDoS attacks becoming so frequent and so crippling, many suspect their competitors are behind them, as they look for ways to put their rivals out of action and steal their customers as a result. With such underhand tactics only increasing, it is imperative that businesses up their game to stay protected and impenetrable to attack.”

About Kaspersky Lab
Kaspersky Lab is a global cybersecurity company founded in 1997. Kaspersky Lab’s deep threat intelligence and security expertise is constantly transforming into security solutions and services to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, governments and consumers around the globe. The company’s comprehensive security portfolio includes leading endpoint protection and a number of specialized security solutions and services to fight sophisticated and evolving digital threats. Over 400 million users are protected by Kaspersky Lab technologies and we help 270,000 corporate clients protect what matters most to them. Learn more at www.kaspersky.com.

For the latest in-depth information on security threat issues and trends, please visit:

Securelist | Information about Viruses, Hackers and Spam
Follow @Securelist on Twitter

Threatpost | The First Stop for Security News
Follow @Threatpost on Twitter

Media Contacts:
Denise Bertrand
781.503.1836
Denise.Bertrand@kaspersky.com

¹Corporate IT Security Risks is the annual survey conducted by Kaspersky Lab in cooperation with B2B International. In 2016, we have asked more than 4,000 representatives of small, medium (50 to 999) to and large businesses (1000+) from 25 countries on their views on IT security and real incidents they had to deal with.