Global Media Company Website Attack Case Study - Akamai Kona
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A major media company was the target of hacktivists that felt the organization was being critical of the Occupy Wall St. movement in the United States. Bent on extracting revenge and embarrassing the company, the hacktivist group sought to halt the company’s Web operations. With this goal in mind, it launched a large-scale Web-based attack using multiple attack strategies including the Low Orbit Ion Cannon attack tool, SQL Injections, and other attack vectors across approximately 20 of the media company’s digital properties. These attack methods have become common practices for those seeking to take part in a botnet attack, and are often associated with one of the world’s largest, most feared computer hacking groups, Anonymous. Read how the company stopped more than 4 million malicious requests in 24 hours, ensured uptime across 19 global media properties, and prevented attack traffic from reaching the company's origin servers. For more information on Akamai's Kona Security Solutions, please visit: http://www.akamai.com/html/solutions/site_defender.html
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Global Media Company Website Attack Case Study - Akamai Kona
- 1. Akamai CASE STUDY Akamai Mitigates Politically Motivated Hacktivist Attack on Major US Media Organization The Situation A major media company was the target of hacktivists that felt the organization was being INDUSTRY Media & Entertainment critical of the Occupy Wall St. movement in the United States. Bent on extracting revenge and embarrassing the company, the hacktivist group sought to halt the company’s Web SECURITY SOLUTIONS operations. With this goal in mind, it launched a large-scale Web-based attack using multiple • kamai Web Application Firewall A attack strategies including the Low Orbit Ion Cannon attack tool, SQL Injections, and other • SiteShield attack vectors across approximately 20 of the media company’s digital properties. These attack methods have become common practices for those seeking to take part in a botnet KEY IMPACTS attack, and are often associated with one of the world’s largest, most feared computer hacking groups, Anonymous. • Stopped over 4 million malicious requests in 24 hours Ensured uptime across 19 digital properties • The Challenge Prevents attack traffic from reaching the • Media and entertainment companies have become a key target with the rise of the hacktivist origin server movement in 2011. Seeking to make political statements, the hacktivists zero in on high-traffic media sites. Since these types of sites have just recently found themselves a part of this growing trend, they are often caught off guard to defend themselves against such attacks. The Goal The media company needed to meet two requirements to support its objectives: • revent DDoS attacks: The media company wanted the ability to detect and mitigate P threats against its Web site as early as possible. • nsure uninterrupted business: Because the company’s multiple digital properties E are a key channel for reaching its audience, it was critical to ensure 24x7 site uptime. Why Akamai Stopping Attacks at the Edge Given the organization’s long-standing relationship with Akamai, and the fact that their Web infrastructure is highly dependent on the Akamai Intelligent Platform, they contacted Akamai’s team of security experts. Akamai was able to quickly deploy the necessary security solutions to match the specific attacks that were expected. Later the team identified the threat as a coordinated, large-scale DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service). Akamai deployed its Web Application Firewall (WAF) service in multiple locations, cloaking the attack traffic, and configured custom rules designed to match the specific attacks that were expected. By detecting and mitigating potential attacks in HTTP and SSL traffic, WAF addresses such attacks within the Akamai Platform to ensure they never reach the customer’s origin data centers. During the 24 hours of the attack Akamai examined 394 million requests, stopping over 4 million malicious requests. As a result, business continued uninterrupted at the media company, with no disruptions across 19 of its digital properties. ctualcommunicationsromackersonoemer
- 2. Akamai Mitigates Attack Akamai CASE STUDY The Akamai Difference Akamai® is the leading cloud platform for helping enterprises provide secure, high-performing user experiences on any device, anywhere. At the core of the company’s solutions is the Akamai Intelligent Platform™ providing extensive reach, coupled with unmatched reliability, security, visibility and expertise. Akamai removes the complexities of connecting the increasingly mobile world, supporting 24/7 consumer demand, and enabling enterprises to securely leverage the cloud. To learn more about how Akamai is accelerating the pace of innovation in a hyperconnected world, please visit www.akamai.com and follow @Akamai on Twitter. Akamai Technologies, Inc. U.S. Headquarters International Offices 8 Cambridge Center Unterfoehring, Germany Bangalore, India Cambridge, MA 02142 Paris, France Sydney, Australia ©2012 Akamai Technologies, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited. Tel 617.444.3000 Milan, Italy Beijing, China Akamai and the Akamai wave logo are registered trademarks. Other trademarks Fax 617.444.3001 London, England Tokyo, Japan contained herein are the property of their respective owners. Akamai believes U.S. toll-free 877.4AKAMAI Madrid, Spain Seoul, Korea that the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date; (877.425.2624) Stockholm, Sweden Singapore such information is subject to change without notice. www.akamai.com