Brussels, 15/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - According to the European Network and Information Security Agency, ENISA, internet service providers are still powerless against large-scale cyber-attacks. They failed to counter the recent attack launched in March by a group of cyber-pirates against the anti-spam organisation Spamhaus, and the digital assault caused noticeable delays for internet users, primarily in the UK, Germany and other parts of Western Europe. “It is clear that internet service providers still have a lot to learn as regards protection from cyber-attacks. Prevention is the key to fighting cyber-attacks effectively”, said Udo Helmbrecht, executive director of ENISA.
According to ENISA and online media, this attack was the largest Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS, which works by overloading a site's ability to cope with incoming traffic) attack in the history of the internet. Although the technology used for the DDoS attack was by no means new, the service providers failed correctly to filter the traffic in order to block the attacks. ENISA noted with regret a lack of efficiency in setting in place security measures, even though these have been known for more than a decade. Two lessons can be learned from this crisis: 1) attacks are increasing in size: the March 2013 attack on Spamhaus reached more than 300 gigabits of data per second. In 2012, the largest DDoS attack was “just” 100 gigabits per second; 2) size matters: in an attack of this size, even commercial internet exchange points, which normally have very high capacity infrastructure, can be compromised. The agency therefore makes technical recommendations, advising internet service providers to implement the existing recommendations (in particular BCP38 - Best Current Practices 38, which have been around for nearly 13 years). Additionally, internet exchange point operators should ensure they are protected against direct attacks. (IL/transl.fl)