A report by the World Economic Forum shows that cyber officials and executives expect a catastrophic cyber event in the next two years. The World Economic Forum – WEF 2023 cites global geopolitical instability.
About 93 percent of cyber leaders and 86 percent of executives believe it is “moderately likely” or “very likely” that global geopolitical instability will result in a widespread, catastrophic cyber event in the next two years. This is from the recently published report “Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2023” by the World Economic Forum Hervor.
Russia-Ukraine war fuels DDoS attacks
Cyber attacks that are on the rise as a result of ongoing geopolitical tensions include DDoS attacks. According to research by NETSCOUT, in the days leading up to the outbreak of war between Russia and Ukraine, the EMEA region saw a significant increase in DDoS attacks targeting government resources, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and financial companies.
As Ukrainian ISPs started to migrate to other countries, threat actors followed and launched DDoS attacks against the countries supporting the besieged country. For example, after Ireland absorbed numerous Ukrainian organizations, there was a 200 percent increase in attacks on organizations in the country.
Attacks target organizations and ISPs
Richard Hummel, Threat Intelligence Lead at NETSCOUT, explains how DDoS attacks reflect geopolitical tensions: “DDoS attacks are often a form of geopolitical protest and are used to disrupt governments and major corporations. In all scenarios, DDoS attacks must travel across multiple ISPs to hit their intended victim. Even an attack that is successfully repelled consumes valuable resources in any ISP network that is reached.
Most of these attacks don't just target a single victim, but many organizations, not least ISPs. Organizations in regions affected by geopolitical unrest are strongly advised to install robust DDoS protection systems and regularly test their online infrastructure. This allows organizations to identify new attack methods and trends that are becoming more prevalent in times of geopolitical tension.”
More at Netscout.com
About NETSCOUT NETSCOUT SYSTEMS, INC. helps secure digital business services against security, availability and service disruptions. Our market and technology leadership is based on the combination of our patented smart data technology with intelligent analytics. We provide the comprehensive, real-time insight that customers need to accelerate and secure their digital transformation. Our advanced Omnis® cybersecurity platform for threat detection and mitigation offers comprehensive network visibility, threat detection, contextual investigations and automated mitigation at the network edge.