The average cost to financial services organisations of restoring services after a Domain Name Service Attack has risen by 40% to an eye-watering $1.3 million, according to new research.
EfficientIP’s 2019 Global DNS Threat Report found that 88% of respondents from the banking sector experienced under-the-radar, yet devastating, DNS attacks in the past year.
Hackers hijack domain names for phishing exploits to send victims to copycat Web sites or to disrupt access to applications and Web sites, often demanding a ransom for the restoration of services.
The report, which surveyed 130 senior technology professionals, including CIOs, CISOs and IT managers, found financial services organisations experienced an average of ten attacks a year, a 37% increase from last year. Fully 47% of financial organisations were targeted by DNS-based phishing scams, 45% suffered cloud service downtime and 68% experienced in-house application downtime.
David Williamson, EfficientIP’s CEO, says: “Financial services organisations have always been the gate-keepers of customers’ money, providing vital services people expect to be able to use all day and night. With so much at stake, the networks of financial services organisations are a predictable, prime target for DNS attacks.”