In Andy Meek’s article, “DDoS attacks are getting much more powerful and the Pentagon is scrambling for solutions,” the ongoing and increasingly pervasive threat of DDoS attacks is characterized as the most important type of cyber assault that the government and the international security community should concern themselves with. However, it is difficult, says Meek, to develop the kinds of tools that would allow organizations to recover from these kinds of attacks in a short period of time. Meek describes the increasing number of DDoS attacks across the Internet in recent years, with the groups committing these attacks moving from smaller, isolated groups to larger, more concentrated attacks. The motivations behind these attacks are also myriad, ranging from simple exploratory sorties to test weaknesses to directed searches for information or disruption of service. To that end, the risks inherent in DDoS attacks are not to be underestimated, as each day brings greater risk of more and more companies and organizations experiencing a DDoS attack. In order to combat this, organizations are working nonstop to find new solutions, and to find better resiliency planning that will work to appropriately stop or mitigate the damage of DDoS attacks (Meek).
This article deals explicitly with the kind of coverage provided in the textbook about Denial-of-Service Attacks (called DoS in the book). This is painted in the book as a major security concern for 802.11 wireless networks. The book itself does a passable job of simply explaining the process by which a DoS attack works, in which attackers will simply overload access points with accesses in order to basically block anyone else from being able to access that particular website – essentially plugging access to the site with excessive traffic. This is also done through disassociate frames. The book describes wireless attacks as “uncommon” and “usually not effective,” but Meek’s article points out that these particular attacks are growing in number and efficiency to the point where we must be more vigilant about combating them (281). DDoS attacks have come a long way since the time this book was written, and therefore represent a greater threat to the continued web service of major companies and organizations than the fringe possibilities described in the textbook. If this book were written closer to today, it may have more than a single paragraph dedicated to the subject.
Overall, Meek’s article provides tremendous insight into the unique problems that DDoS attacks represent to businesses and organizations, and how that threat is growing. The clear and concise explanations of what DDoS attacks are, the motivations behind them, and the steps companies are taking to lessen their likelihood, are welcome additions to the article. Meek is particularly skilled at giving numbers and statistics that show the specific costs of DDoS attacks and why they might present such a danger (costing businesses $40,000 each hour a site is down, for instance) (Meek). Quotes are used judiciously to lend credibility to these claims, and to allow the experts in the field to speak, though on occasion company representatives are not properly named or identified when speaking on the issue. However, these issues are mitigated by the overall strength and comprehensiveness of Meek’s discussion of the growing and increasingly dangerous world of cyberattacks, as illustrated by the rise of DDoS attacks as a means by which to disrupt commerce and organizational operations.
Works Cited
Meek, Andy. “DDoS Attacks Are Getting Much More Powerful and the Pentagon is Scrambling
for Solutions.” BGR, Aug 31, 2015.
