Email management specialist Email Systems has identified the HR sector as being one of the worst hit by DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks in recent months, with a recent 45% increase in the frequency of attacks on HR consultancies.
The most probable explanation for DDoS attacks on HR organisations is that email has increasingly become a central component of the HR industry, used for gathering information regarding candidates and clients alike. It is likely that attackers incorrectly believe the target domain belongs to an ISP and consequently bombard the domain with innumerate combinations of email addresses in an attempt to ascertain actual addresses. Specifically this type of attack is known as a Directory Harvest Attack (DHA).
In addition to the HR sector, many of Email Systemsí clients in the transport, manufacturing, education and even catering sectors have each been targeted in the last two months with DDoS attacks comprising many millions of incoming emails, sometimes on a single day.
Email Systemsí client The Ajilon Group - which comprises UK brands such as Office Angels, Computer People, OAexec, Jonathan Wren, Roevin and Ajilon Consulting amongst others - recognised that the content management solution which had been developed in-house some years previously was proving ineffective, with the number of unsolicited emails far outnumbering the legitimate ones being received each day group-wide. Consequently, Ajilon recognised that there was an immediate requirement to work with a third party in order to solve the problem and reclaim email as an effective business tool.
Helen Ackroyd, Group Business Services Director, the Ajilon Group said:
ìThe Email Systems solution has been an extremely timely intervention for Ajilon as the situation demanded that we find a way to cleanse our corporate network of spam in order to get back to using email effectively. The system was extremely quick to implement and was rolled out across the group with seemingly little effort required on our part. In a short space of time our corporate email has reverted from being blighted by time and bandwidth-sapping constraints to being clean, effective and worry-free, as it should be.î
Neil Hammerton, CEO of Email Systems said:
ìUnfortunately the increasing frequency of denial of service attacks in the HR sector means that many organisations are leaving one of their primary business tools unprotected and prone to attack at any time.î
Email Systems manages and monitors the flow of spam and virus infected email messages on behalf of millions of corporate and public sector users across the UK. For more information, visit www.EmailSystems.com or call 0870 141 7070.
HR Organisations Increasingly At Risk From DDoS Attacks Says Email Systems
HR Consultancies Incorrectly Being Identified As ISPs By Attackers
