2021: Volumetric DDoS Attacks Rising Fast

In our 2020 DDoS retrospective, we highlighted the twists and turns of a very, very active threat landscape. As a quick refresher, we mitigated some of the largest attacks ever seen (1.44 Tbps and 809 Mpps); saw more attacks on customers across more diverse industries than ever before; and observed the largest DDoS extortion campaign, which impacted thousands of companies globally. So, it came as no surprise when 2021 threat actors continued to double down on DDoS.

Let’s look at several key trending observations: 

Attackers pick up the pace and raise the bar. In 2021 alone, we’ve already seen more attacks over 50 Gbps (as of 03/24/2021) than we saw in all of 2019. Keep in mind attacks of this scale can take almost anyone offline.

DDoS attacks are getting bolder and badder. Three of the six biggest volumetric DDoS attacks Akamai has ever recorded and mitigated have been in the past month, including the two largest known DDoS extortion attacks to date. The latest three attacks targeted an organization in Europe in the gambling industry and an organization in Asia in the video games industry.

Threat actors continue to expand their sights. The number of customer attacks per month has continued at near record volume, and we have continued to see diversification of attacks across geographies and industries. A recent analysis showed a 57% increase in the number of different customers attacked year over year.

Fig. 1: Top DDoS Gbps Recorded/Mitigated Attacks

Fig. 2: DDoS attacks and projections by year. Bars = DDoS attacks; red line = attacks over 50 Gbps.

The 2021 stats are projected based on current totals.

Apparently clinging to the hope of a major Bitcoin payout, criminal actors have started to ramp up their efforts and their attack bandwidth, which puts to rest any notion that DDoS extortion was old news.

The most recent extortion attack — peaking at more than 800 Gbps and targeting a European gambling company — was the biggest and most complex we’ve seen since the widespread return of extortion attacks that kicked off in mid-August 2020. Since the start of the campaign, show-of-force attacks have grown from 200+ Gbps in August to 500+ Gbps by mid-September, then ballooned to 800+ Gbps by February 2021.

More here.

Quelle: Akamai Blog