Prolexic Recommends Combining Two Scoring Systems For More Accurate Analysis Of DDoS Threat Levels

PRESS RELEASE

HOLLYWOOD, FL – (December 4, 2012) – Prolexic, the global leader in Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) protection services, announced today that it recommends organizations combine two commonly used risk scoring systems to obtain a more accurate gauge of DDoS threat levels.

The recommendation and a detailed how-to guide is featured in Prolexic's new white paper, "Risk Rating Analysis of DDoS Attacks: How the integration of the MIDAS Scoring System with NIST CVSSv2 can improve DDoS risk assessment," that was published today.

The practice of assigning a risk rating to the intensity level of a DDoS attack can be obtained by adapting the Measure of Impact of DDoS Attacks (MIDAS) scoring system (developed by AT&T Research Labs) and blending those results with the National Institute of Standards and Technology Common Vulnerability Scoring System version 2 (NIST CVSSv2) calculator.

The base metric risk scoring system from the NIST CVSSv2 analysis framework focuses on three key aspects of information security: confidentiality, integrity and availability. When dealing with DDoS, the only metric that would be affected is availability. This limited metric is where the integration of the MIDAS system, along with risk rating modifier parameters of the CVSSv2 system, comes into use.

"Combining the threat classification of the MIDAS system with the NIST CVSSv2 scoring system enables businesses to immediately assess the risk of various types of DDoS attacks against specific network resources," said Neal Quinn, chief operating officer at Prolexic. "By using the MIDAS system to define ddos attack types, businesses are able to tailor the CVSS analysis toward a more accurate risk rating, providing an understanding of both the targets and the sizes of incoming attacks."

The new white paper, "Risk Rating Analysis of DDoS Attacks: How the integration of the MIDAS Scoring System with NIST CVSSv2 can improve DDoS risk assessment," can be downloaded for a limited time from www.prolexic.com/ddos-risk-rating.

This white paper follows the recent introduction of Prolexic's DDoS Downtime Calculator, which is available at www.prolexic.com/downtime. By completing the short questionnaire, business can obtain an estimate of downtime in terms of hours and cost based on their specific information technology infrastructure.

About Prolexic

Prolexic is the world's largest, most trusted Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) mitigation provider. Able to absorb the largest and most complex attacks ever launched, Prolexic restores mission-critical Internet-facing infrastructures for global enterprises and government agencies within minutes. Ten of the world's largest banks and the leading companies in e-Commerce, SaaS, payment processing, travel/hospitality, gaming and other at-risk industries rely on Prolexic to protect their businesses. Founded in 2003 as the world's first in-the-cloud DDoS mitigation platform, Prolexic is headquartered in Hollywood, Florida and has scrubbing centers located in the Americas, Europe and Asia. To learn more about how Prolexic can stop DDoS attacks and protect your business, please visit www.prolexic.com, follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+, YouTube, and @Prolexic on Twitter.