According to the 2007 Computer Crime and Security Survey, reported losses due to security breaches have doubled since last year. Security incidents, and more specifically denial of service attacks, have become increasingly common and pose a serious threat to all companies that depend on the Internet for their day-to-day business operations.

A distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack is a computer crime that makes computer resources unavailable to its rightful owners. The attacks flood the Internet users’ circuit with such a large amount of unauthorized data that the connection essentially freezes up and ceases to operate altogether. Computer criminals use this type of attack on high-profile Web servers to make its Web pages unavailable online and block communication between the intended users.

These types of infiltrations can originate from a single source, known as denial of service. However, most attacks now come from multiple sources, or distributed denial of service, through the use of “botnets” or “zombies.” These computers or servers have been compromised without the owner’s knowledge, typically through a virus infestation.

Once these devices have been taken over, they’re used for hostile Internet actions, such as the transmission of SPAM, viruses or DDoS attacks. Internet criminals maintain lists of these stolen botnets and sell them to other online offenders for ill-natured purposes. According to a recent study conducted by the security firm Trend Micro, around 20 percent of the world’s computers have now been turned into zombie systems.

In the past few years the motivations behind these attacks appears to have shifted. A few years ago the threat of a denial of service was driven primarily by extortion or some financial gain to the attacker. In recent years, however, the driver has morphed into something more akin to a grudge match or cyber-warfare.

Because most modern companies simply cannot function without Internet capability, telecom providers are helping businesses protect themselves against these harmful attacks. With the development of cutting edge DDoS mitigation services, companies can fight back against computer criminals and rest easy knowing that their Internet connectivity will be maintained.