Users of LG Uplus, a telecommunications provider owned by LG Corporation, experienced network outages that may have been caused by distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.
A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt a server, service, or network’s normal traffic by saturating the target or its surrounding infrastructure with an excessive amount of Internet traffic.
DDoS attacks acquire effectiveness by employing numerous compromised computer systems as sources of attack traffic. Exploited machines can include computers and other networked resources such as IoT devices.
A DDoS attack is comparable from a distance to an unforeseen traffic congestion that blocks the roadway and keeps ordinary traffic from reaching its destination.
According to LG Uplus, a connection failure occurred at around 2 a.m. on Sunday for 19 minutes, before another such disruption was detected at roughly 6 p.m. for some 20 minutes.
In several large supermarkets and other small companies, the problem rendered credit card transaction systems inoperable. There have also been reports of problems when using wired internet on laptops and smart TVs.
The network operator speculates that the most recent connectivity issues were caused by DDoS attacks.
DDoS attacks have multiplied dramatically in recent years and have rendered businesses completely unusable for extended periods of time.
In February 2020, Amazon Web Services (AWS) experienced a DDoS attack that was so sophisticated that it kept its incident response teams busy for many days while also having an impact on customers all around the world.
A DDoS attack also targeted the EXMO cryptocurrency exchange in February 2021 resulted in the organization’s inability to function for about five hours.
Australia also experienced a significant, sustained, state-sponsored DDoS attack.
When a DDoS attack occurs, the targeted organization encounters a devastating interruption in one or more of its services as a result of the attack flooding its resources with HTTP requests and traffic and refusing access to legitimate users.
Along with supply chain assaults, ransomware, and social engineering, DDoS attacks are considered one of the top four cybersecurity risks of the modern day.
