News & Comment: Hackers attack RWE website amid Hambach Forest evictions | DW | 25.09.2018

COMMENT:

Andrew Lloyd, President, Corero Network Security

“This is yet another example that illustrates the DDoS threat to (softer targets in) CNI.  RWE is an operator of an essential service (energy) in Germany.  The lights didn’t go out but their public facing website was offline as a result of this attack. DDoS Trends Research for the first half of 2018 shows that DDoS attacks increased 40% from Q2 2017 to Q2 2018.”

Sean Newman, Director of Product Management  

“With the more recent focus on DDoS attacks being used for financial gain, with ransom demands or smokescreens, as part of broader targeted attacks, it’s easy to forget the classic belief-driven motives.  Making a political or belief-driven statement by disrupting an associated website with DDoS attacks may seem a little old-school, but it’s just as relevant as it ever was.  And, with the proliferation of cheap DDoS for hire services, powered mainly by the latest wave of IoT-powered botnets, it’s never been easier to achieve.  What’s most concerning in this latest case, is that a provider of critical national infrastructure across Europe is not more resilient to such attacks.  With always-on real-time DDoS protection readily available, it has never been easier for such organizations to protect themselves from these attacks.”