<p>Ever since they emerged several years ago as trouble for e-commerce sites, distributed denial of service, or DDoS, attacks have continued to evolve as threats to online retailing. Having first appeared as efforts by computer geeks to prove what they could do to stall web site operations, they morphed into attacks by criminals out to extort monetary rewards, as well as activists out to force recognition of a political cause, says Jeff Lyon, president of Black Lotus, a security technology and services firm that specializes in mitigating the effects of DDoS attacks.</p><p>Regardless of the reasons behind the attacks, many have targeted e-commerce sites more than other types of web sites, Lyon says.</p><p>The reason?</p><p>"E-commerce sites are most susceptible to DDoS attacks because the attackers know that if they take down an e-commerce site, they can take an entire business offline," Lyon says. "If an insurance site is taken down, it hurts, but it doesn't ruin the business."</p><p><a href="http://www.internetretailer.com/2012/09/12/how-ward-ddos-attacks-online-retailings-natural-enemy">Keep reading...</a></p>