Cross-Border DDoS Attacks Raise Concerns, HKIRC Technology Helps Gatekeepers for “.hk” Users | Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation Limited
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Cross-Border DDoS Attacks Raise Concerns, HKIRC Technology Helps Gatekeepers for “.hk” Users

2022-02-08
New cybersecurity attacks and DDoS (distributed denial of service) threats are lurking in the shadows every day. Recently, an investigator who noted that North Korea’s network was subject to an extremely large DDoS cyber-attack that brought the country’s network to a standstill and completely disabled its sending and receiving functions. Microsoft also released another report that someone launched what was said to be the largest DDoS attack ever on Azure users from Asia last November. The attack came from 10 different countries and regions, sending a staggering 3.47 Tbps of network traffic per second. Such cross-border attacks are naturally worrisome and will users of “.hk” domains be affected by similar DDoS attacks?

Flash-mob DDoS overload server, lack of defense is easy to incur losses

Simply put, DDoS attacks are carried out by using a large number of malware-infected “Botnets” to send a large amount of information to the victim’s server or network in a short period of time, in order to overload the server or network, eventually rendering it unable to provide normal responses to other users.

The impact of these attacks is often unpredictable. For example, if an enterprise stops its network operation due to a DDoS attack, it will not only lose revenue during the downtime, but also reveals the enterprise’s inability to cope with the network attack, which will affect the company’s reputation and shake the confidence of existing or potential customers; more deadly is an attack against government departments, if the government network is paralyzed and no immediate response can be made, it might bring political, economic, and other social activities to a halt, and seriously affecting people’s basic livelihood.

Since most DDoS attacks occur within a short period of time, like a planned “flash” operation, victims are often unable to react in time before being completely overwhelmed, therefore the most reliable way to defend against DDoS attacks is to take precautionary measures, such as adopting server system with effective response mechanisms.

Dedicated to Defending Against Attacks and Keeping the “.hk” Domain Name System Online 24/7
In Hong Kong, there are currently over 270,000 registered users under the “.hk” domain name, including the government, major financial, banking, education, and public institution, and a variety of businesses and individuals. HKIRC is responsible for running the server system in support of all “.hk” users. Over the years, the Internet has seen one major attack after another, but to this day, the “.hk” Domain Name System (DNS) has never been brought down, keeping a 100% uptime record. In addition to our professional team that closely monitors the system throughout the day, HKIRC’s flexibility in responding to different cyber threats is a major reason for its success.

For DDoS, HKIRC uses Anycast DNS technology to effectively respond to DDoS attacks. Under normal circumstances, individual domain name relies on a single server to act as a bridge to the network. When a DDoS attack occurs, a single server can easily be overloaded due to insufficient computing power; in contrast, using Anycast DNS technology allows a domain name to be connected to multiple servers around the world, triage the traffic sent by the attacker in the event of a DDoS attack, and mitigates the attack with the help of multiple servers. HKIRC will also continue to improve the performance of various technologies in order to ensure a stable DNS operation while defending against DDoS attack patterns, giving the government, organizations, businesses and other “.hk” users a complete peace of mind that all Hong Kong internet users will enjoy the most secure service. In addition, HKIRC will increase the available quota for “.hk” domain names or even increase network bandwidth to enhance service performance.

In conclusion, while it is difficult to predict when an attacker will launch a DDoS attack, it is possible to effectively defend against such malicious attacks by taking the proper precautions. If you don’t want to be the next target, please keep in view the latest information on cybersecurity, and enhance the protection of your valuable cyber assets by using the “.hk” domain name secured by HKIRC.

References:

  1. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/nkorean-internet-downed-by-suspected-cyber-attacks-researchers-2022-01-26/ 
  2. https://technews.tw/2022/01/28/microsoft-mitigated-a-record-3-47-tbps-ddos-attack-on-azure-users/