Over the last year, distributed denial-of-service DDoS attacks have gotten stronger and evolved in strategy and tactics as cyber-criminals get smarter. With increased reports of “smoke screening”, where attackers use DDoS attacks to distract IT staff while inserting malware to breach confidential data such as bank account credentials and client data. Over 50% of attacked companies reported theft of funds, data or intellectual property. These types of attacks are more powerful but short-lived and more precise than prolonged strikes whose goal is extended downtime.

DDoS attacks vary in both sophistication and intensity. Attackers typically make fake requests that look like random garbage on the network, or more troublesome; make the attack traffic look exactly like real web traffic.…