Cisco forecasts a potential destruction of service attack due rapid evolution of cyber threats

Uncovering the rapid evolution of threats and the increasing magnitude of cyber attacks, networking and security major Cisco on 21 July 2017 forecast a potential “destruction of service” (DeOS) attacks. According to Cisco’s 2017 ‘Midyear Cybersecurity Report, these attacks could eliminate organisations’ backups and safety nets, required to restore systems and data after an attack.

“Also, with the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT), key industries are bringing more operations online, increasing attack surfaces and the potential scale and impact of these threats,” the report said. Recent IoT botnet activity suggested that some attackers might be laying the foundation for a wide-reaching, high-impact cyber-threat event that could potentially disrupt the internet itself. “As recent incidents like WannaCry and Nyetya illustrate, our adversaries are becoming more and more creative in how they architect their attacks,” Steve Martino, Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer at Cisco, said in a statement. “While the majority of organisations took steps to improve security following a breach, businesses across industries are in a constant race against the attackers. Security effectiveness starts with closing the obvious gaps and making security a business priority,” Martino added. Cisco also tracked that the progress in reducing “time to detection” (TTD) - the window of time between a compromise and the detection of a threat. It said that faster time to detection is critical to constrain attackers’ operational space and minimise damage from intrusions. “To effectively reduce TTD and limit the impact of an attack, the industry must move to a more integrated, architectural approach that increases visibility and manageability, empowering security teams to close gaps,” David Ulevitch, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Security Business Group at Cisco noted.