Distributed Denial of Service (or DDoS) is a cheap, quick, and easy way for someone to take your network down. Anyone can sic a DDoS attack on your business; without protection, your business is at risk. DDoS attacks aren’t used to target only the big Fortune 500 companies. They’re used to target schools, online streaming (Twitch/Discord), and even small businesses. They are quick and easy to enact and the perfect way for any disgruntled customer or bored student to wreak havoc on your business.
AI has been firmly implemented into all of our daily operations, from social media captions to talking to our Smart Homes. With that, AI-powered cyber threats are on the rise. Preparation for a DDoS attack before it happens may be the only thing that saves your network before it’s too late.
Gaining access to a cyber-attack is easier than you might think. All you need is access to the dark web, some cryptocurrency, and voila, you’re well on your way to orchestrating a DDoS attack.
“I’m a small business; this won’t affect me. Nobody has anything against me!” You don’t need to have enemies to get DDoS attacked. There’s a rise in DDoS-for-Ransom accounts.
You might be thinking, “Maybe I’ll do this down the line; it doesn’t seem like a priority for my business right now,” and then you get it. At this point, it’s already too late. Protecting your business from a DDoS attack should be at the top of your tech to-do list in 2025.
How AI is Supercharging DDoS Attacks
AI grows faster and is more powerful every day. It uses existing attacks to adapt its techniques and becomes more and more challenging to combat. The Internet of Things (IoT) makes it simpler for botnets to infiltrate your network at a speed that makes it almost impossible to stop without DDoS mitigation.
It can be hard to tell what’s fake and what’s real. DDoS attacks are no different. Using AI-powered traffic generation, DDoS attacks are designed to look like the real deal. Suddenly, you have a surge of users on your network, which is exciting, right? Wrong. These are botnets being sent to your network to attack and take down your network. By the time you realize what’s happening, it’s too late. Your network is down, users can’t get online, and all you can do is wait until it’s over.
It’s possible that at some point in time you may have been actively browsing an organization’s website that was in the midst of a DDoS attack, without even knowing it. In February of 2020, Amazon was subject to one of the most significant DDoS attacks of all time, reaching up to 2.3 terabits per second. For most, the attack probably went unnoticed, as Amazon’s mitigation services quickly stepped in to neutralize the threat.
The DDoS Black Market – Cybercrime as a Service
The accessibility of the Dark Web has unfortunately lowered the barrier to entry for malicious activities, making launching a DDoS attack alarmingly simple, almost as easy as ordering takeout. Not only is it almost as simple as getting your takeout, but it’s around the same price, too. For $30-100, someone can launch a DDoS attack on your business. Depending on the size of your network traffic, this can cost you thousands of dollars in just a few minutes.
Just as a streaming subscription provides unlimited entertainment, the Dark Web offers DDoS attack subscriptions, providing a steady stream of malicious activity for a flat monthly rate. This isn’t a one-off threat; it’s a persistent barrage. Some attackers even pay for dedicated ‘attack-as-a-service’ providers, ensuring a constant onslaught against your website. This necessitates continuous, resource-intensive mitigation efforts to keep your online presence operational.
Winning the AI Arms Race with Adaptive Defense
Traditional DDoS defenses are not prepared for the growing sophistication of DDoS attacks. Attackers infiltrate the IoT, making it easier to distract and weaken the defenses that are spending their time elsewhere. Some traditional systems may even have trouble differentiating between actual attacks and an influx of true customers entering your site. This leads to genuine users being blocked from access to the site.
The escalating sophistication of AI-driven DDoS attacks necessitates equally advanced AI-powered defenses. Proactive threat detection, powered by AI, is crucial to ensure businesses are ready for an attack on their network. Since the first spike in traffic, the AI has been made aware of and has started to deploy its mitigation tactics to remove harmful botnets from the network, blocking them before they become unmanageable.
This AI –versus – AI dynamic, where Everstream continually refines its defenses through simulated attacks ensures that our mitigation services are primed to preemptively protect your business, minimizing service disruption.
Secure Your Network Now: The Case for Proactive DDoS Mitigation
We know that AI-driven cyber-attacks leverage learned information to create more significant, more efficient attacks and adapt to mitigation techniques, which is why Everstream employs a counter-AI strategy, matching the developing attacks shot-for-shot. The future of cyber-attacks suggests a relentless pursuit of surpassing mitigation efforts. Everstream’s DDoS Mitigation works to prevent this.
Ultimately, the objective of ‘attack-for-hire’ services is to make it even easier for anyone to have the ability to purchase a DDoS attack. This widespread accessibility may even extend to phishing emails, where clicking a suspicious link could lead to a devastating attack.
So how can you prevent an attack on your network? The best step you can take is to implement DDoS Mitigation services. This takes almost all the pressure off your business and allows for constant surveillance of your network by DDoS protection to keep DDoS attacks at bay. By utilizing a DDoS mitigation service, you have a continuous combatant at play, waiting for any attacks on your network to strike back. It’s important to keep a watchful eye on your website’s traffic. An unexpected or unusual spike in traffic could be the start of a DDoS attack, and without keeping a careful eye on it, it may escalate to a full attack before you even notice. 75% of attacks last less than 10 minutes. This presses the need for always-on proactive mitigation. Because, by the time you ask for help with a reactive solution, the attack will likely be over. Before you know it, a new attack can occur, within minutes, hours, days, etc. Traditional DDoS Mitigation solutions are ill-equipped to handle the accelerated attack speeds required to rapidly incapacitate modern systems.
Everstream offers DDoS Mitigation to all Everstream customers with an existing Dedicated Internet Access connection. We can do the hard work for you, allowing you to focus on what’s most important: your business. Our mitigation services offer comprehensive reports on exactly how Everstream safeguarded your business. We manage every step, from monitoring to combatting an attack on your network. Everstream’s comprehensive systems intervene on AI-driven bot attacks before they even reach the edges of your network. You’ll be kept in the loop the whole time on the size and duration of the attack. It’s better to be prepared; DDoS mitigation is critical for every business.
Interested in getting protection for your business? Get in touch!