Arbor Networks adds new security layer for West Africa

Info Security Products Guide, the industry's leading information security research and advisory guide, has named Arbor Networks as Best Overall Security Company (500-2,499 employees) at the 13th Annual Global Excellence Awards.

Embedded Internet-of-Thing (IoT) botnets are not a new phenomenon - we've seen them leveraged to launch distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, send spam, engage in man-in-the-middle (MitM) credentials hijacking, and other malicious activities for several years. For instance, a few years ago, a 75,000-strong botnet comprised of embedded devices - consumer broadband routers, in that instance - was found to be launching DDoS attacks. We routinely see IoT botnets comprised of webcams, DVRs, cable television set-top boxes, satellite set-top boxes, and more used to launch DDoS attacks.

A new consumer survey concluded that two-thirds of Americans believe themselves to be tech savvy, although their actions with regard to online security indicate otherwise - with millennials being the worst offenders.

At the start of this year, South Africa announced its first one million Rand prize money in an e-Sports tournament, the Telkom DGL Masters tournament.

"The news is not good. The detection deficit is getting worse," says Bryan Hamman, territory manager for sub-Saharan Africa at Arbor Networks.

Although financial services organisation are well aware that they are the targets of serious and advanced security threats, they struggle to identify attacks once they are inside their network.

Cyber attacks are happening on both a small and a grand scale - and regularly," says Bryan Hamman, territory manager for sub-Saharan Africa at Arbor Networks.

When allocating budget to DDoS protection, consider the full cost to the organisation of critical applications going down, says Arbor Networks.

94% of internet users in the Middle East and Africa forecast to access web via phones.