Network Security, Network Security

European Commission gets DDoSed

The European Commission has been DDosed. The European Union's controlling body confirmed reports of the attack to news outlet Politico earlier today. The attack focused not only on the EU's main website but the network gateways too, meaning staff were unable to work.

The attack occurred around 3pm on 24 November brought down service twice for hours each time, with staff unable to access critical systems. Though the EC pointed out to Politico that nothing was breached and no data was stolen. The Commission's security team, called DIGIT, were supposedly fighting off a new wave of attacks late in the evening.

The EU's CERT has been informed of the attack but little more is publicly known about the nature of the attack, where it came from, or who was behind it.

Sean Newman, director at Corero Networks told SCMagazineUK.com in an email, “ Reports from the European Commission of saturated Internet connectivity are just another example of why organisations need to be looking to their Service Providers for protection against DDoS attacks, as on-premise defences are virtually powerless once incoming links have been overwhelmed.”

That said, aside from these mega breaches, most aren't quite as formidable: “The vast majority of DDoS attacks are much smaller, in volume and duration, often surgically crafted to knock out a specific target in just a few minutes, with damage that takes much longer to rectify – whatever DDoS defences are employed, they need to be effective at both ends of the scale to avoid disruption and all its financial and reputational consequences.”


Get daily email updates

SC Media's daily must-read of the most current and pressing daily news

By clicking the Subscribe button below, you agree to SC Media Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.