SECURITY NEWS
Cloudflare highlights DDoS attack trends in latest report
Cloudflare , the security , performance and reliability company helping to build a better Internet , has announced its 2022 Q3 DDoS report . This report includes insights and trends about the DDoS threat landscape – as observed across the global Cloudflare network .
Multi-terabit strong DDoS attacks have become increasingly frequent . In Q3 , Cloudflare automatically detected and mitigated multiple attacks that exceeded 1 Tbps . The largest attack was a 2.5 Tbps DDoS attack launched by a Mirai botnet variant , aimed at the Minecraft server , Wynncraft . This is the largest attack Cloudflare has ever seen from the bitrate perspective . It was a multi-vector attack consisting of UDP and TCP floods . However , Wynncraft – a massively multiplayer online role-playing game Minecraft server where hundreds and thousands of users can play on the same server – didn ’ t even notice the attack since Cloudflare filtered it out for them .
Geopolitical tensions are reflected in cyberattacks . Cloudflare ’ s data centres saw attacks targeting Taiwanese companies increase nearly 20x and when looking at the war in Ukraine , the company saw that attacks on Russian websites surged 24x compared to last year .
Highlights of the DDoS Report
General DDoS attack trends Overall in Q3 , Cloudflare has seen :
• An increase in DDoS attacks compared to last year
• Longer-lasting volumetric attacks , a spike in attacks generated by the Mirai botnet and its variants
• Surges in attacks targeting Taiwan and Japan
Application-layer DDoS attacks
• HTTP DDoS attacks increased by 111 % YoY but decreased by 10 % QoQ
• HTTP DDoS attacks targeting Taiwan increased by 200 % QoQ ; attacks targeting Japan increased by 105 % QoQ
Bashar Bashaireh , Managing Director , Middle East and Turkey , Cloudflare ,
• Reports of Ransom DDoS attacks increased by 67 % YoY and 15 % QoQ
Network-layer DDoS attacks
• L3 / 4 DDoS attacks increased by 97 % YoY and 24 % QoQ
• In Q3 , Cloudflare saw a 4x increase in network-layer DDoS attacks attributed to the Mirai botnet . This underscores why securing IoT devices is critical
• The gaming and gambling industry was the most targeted by L3 / 4 DDoS attacks , including a massive 2.5 Tbps DDoS attack
Ransom DDoS attacks Ransom DDoS attacks are attacks where the attacker demands a ransom payment , usually in the form of Bitcoin , to stop / avoid the attack .
• Q3 saw ransom DDoS attacks increase for the third quarter in a row . September 2022 saw almost one out of every four respondents report receiving a ransom DDoS attack or threat .
• In Q3 , 15 % of respondents reported being targeted by HTTP DDoS attacks accompanied by a threat or a ransom note . This represents a 15 % increase QoQ and 67 % increase YoY of reported ransom DDoS attacks .
Commenting on the report , Bashar Bashaireh , Managing Director , Middle East and Turkey , Cloudflare , said : “ Attacks may be initiated by humans , but they are executed by bots – and to play to win , you must fight bots with bots . Detection and mitigation must be automated as much as possible , because relying solely on humans puts defenders at a disadvantage . Cloudflare ’ s automated systems constantly detect and mitigate DDoS attacks for our customers , so they don ’ t have to .”
Bashaireh added : “ Over the years , it has become easier , cheaper , and more accessible for attackers and attackers-for-hire to launch DDoS attacks . But as easy as it has become for the attackers , we want to make sure that it is even easier – and free – for defenders of organisations of all sizes to protect themselves against DDoS attacks of all types . We ’ ve been providing unmetered and unlimited DDoS protection for free to all of our customers since 2017 — when we pioneered the concept .”
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