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Domain Name System Attack Cost Rises 49 Percent to $1,070,000

Over the past year, organizations faced on average more than nine Domain Name System (DNS) attacks, an increase of 34 percent, says the Efficient IP and IDC's 2019 Global DNS Threat Report.

Costs too went up 49 percent, meaning one in five businesses lost over $1 million per attack and causing app downtime for 63 percent of those attacked. Other issues highlighted by the study, now in its fifth year, include the broad range and changing popularity of attack types, ranging from volumetric to low signal, including phishing, 47 percent, malware-based attacks, 39 percent, and old-school DDoS, 30 percent.

Highlighted were the greater consequences of not securing the DNS network layer against all possible attacks. No sector was spared, leaving organizations open to a range of advanced effects from compromised brand reputation to losing business. Any impact on DNS performance has major business implications. Well-publicized cyber attacks such as WannaCry and NotPetya caused financial and reputational damage to organizations across the world. The impact caused by DNS-based attacks is as important due to its mission-critical role.

The top impacts of DNS attacks － damaged reputation, business continuity and finances:

63 percent of organizations suffered application downtime.
45 percent had their websites compromised.
27 percent experienced business downtime as a direct consequence.
26 percent of businesses had lost brand equity due to DNS attacks.

Data theft via DNS continues to be a problem. To protect against this, 32 percent of organizations are prioritizing securing network endpoints and 29 percent are looking for better DNS traffic monitoring.