If hackers can take down Visa and Mastercard’s sites on the same day, they can do the same to yours. It’s not even difficult. A simple application called LOIC is now available that allows anybody to set up and collaborate in a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack on any website of their choosing.

What is LOIC? Where did it come from? And how do you protect yourself against it? LOIC stands for Low Orbit Ion Cannon, a funny name for powerful piece of software. It was written by someone known as “praetox” as part of the 4chan campaign against the Church of Scientology, and the intent was to “democratize” DDoS attacks  by making them easy for anyone to set up.

Basically, any Internet user can download the software, enter a URL or IP address, and Kapow! A DDoS attack is under way. No technical expertise is necessary, only the motivation.

What makes LOIC so potentially dangerous to website owners is that it also has features that enable easy collaboration of hundreds and thousands of computers running LOIC in one coordinated attack, and it’s that functionality that allowed Operation Payback to bring down the credit card sites. For more information read Cybercrime: 5 Things You Need to Know.