Hack Attacks Sparks Real Concerns For Kiwi Website Owners

Hack Attacks Sparks Real Concerns For Kiwi Website Owners

Thomas Cooper

Owning a website isn’t a luxury as much as it is a risk, many New Zealand website owners are finding. This warning has come after a series of network attacks called “DoS” and “DDoS” attacks since the start of February, targeting small business websites.

Denial of service attacks, usually abbreviated to DoS attacks, pose complex security risks for organisations attempting to run either a server or website. According The Fort NZ’s Security General Manager Warren Dent, such attacks cannot be addressed by traditional anti-virus or on-premise solutions.

Dent explains “DoS attacks allow hackers to take down websites for a number of hours, and sometimes days, by targeting the layers of their communication systems.”

Such an attack in laymen’s terms happens by flooding a website with additional ‘requests’ than it can handle, it overloads a server, usually sending a website offline.

“Without a website for a key period of time, a business is likely to suffer from a loss of revenue, and also not to mention, embarrassment or loss of reputation from the public” explains Dent.

What’s worse is that many hackers are now trying out amplified attack forms. Hackers use smaller websites, resources and servers, to launch amplified attacks on target websites.

Dent says “In essence your website is likely to be a great target for a hacker, as it’s a stepping stone for them to attack a larger company.”

Many of these attacks are increasing in complexity and are not going away any time soon. According to internet expert Johannes Tames, “new types of attacks are basically rendering the built in protection web hosts can offer, obsolete.”

It is important that a business considers its use of defense mechanisms, such as those offered by The Fort NZ. However, special attacks are being developed all the time with new IT spoofing methods, so it is vital to ensure a good security team is in place.

Tames warns, “the public need to get seriously aware they are at absolute risk. It’s only a matter of time before a website with no security is not compromised. Many website producers and designers are not taking into this account.”

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