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A new report from Zayo Group showed that Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks in H1 this year almost doubled compared to H2 2023, with telcos the primary target
New research from Zayo Group suggests that international conflicts and the increasing availability of AI are fuelling a rise in DDoS attacks, with attack up 106% in H1 this year compared to H2 of last year.
At it most basic level, a DDoS attack is a manufactured internet traffic jam. An attacker uses vast numbers of compromised computer systems to send requests to a targeted IP address, overwhelming the server or network and resulting in a deniable of service to regular internet traffic.
This form of attack has been used by bad actors to disrupt services over the internet for over three decades now and, despite its relative simplicity, DDoS attacks remain a major threat to businesses, big and small, around the world.
In fact, according to Zayo’s report, DDoS attacks cost unprotected companies an average of $270,000 per attack, or $6,000 per minute.
The report showed that these DDoS attacks are not only getting more frequent, but are also lasting longer, reaching an average of 45 minutes, up 18% from H2 2023.
According to the report, this increase in attack frequency and duration can be attributed to ‘the growing sophistication of AI-driven, bot-based attacks’ which allows ‘attackers to launch more frequent, sustained, and high-impact assaults across various industries’. This, coupled with the major ongoing geopolitical conflicts around the world, has led to a spike in DDoS activity.
The telecoms industry remains the primary target for these attacks, accounting for 57% of incidents. The next largest sector attacked was education (19%), manufacturing (5%), and cloud/SaaS companies (5%).
The attacks on the manufacturing industry are perhaps the most interesting here, with duration of attack on these organisations increasing by 308% and the scale of attacks by 200% in H1 this year versus H3 last year.
Government organisations were subject to the longest attacks, lasting for an average of over six hours, up 41%.
“Recent trends in Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks in Europe reveal a significant escalation in both frequency and sophistication. The number of attacks has surged, driven largely by geopolitical conflicts. This has led to an increase in attacks on critical sectors like financial services, telecommunications, and internet service providers, which are vital to national infrastructure,” said Tema Hassan, senior product manager at Zayo Europe.
“New attack techniques, such as those exploiting vulnerabilities in modern web protocols like HTTP/2, have emerged, adding complexity to the threat landscape. Traditional methods like DNS-based attacks also remain prevalent and have grown in scale. In response, countries within Europe are implementing stricter cybersecurity regulations to bolster defence mechanisms against these evolving threats.”
Worryingly, Zayo’s report predicts that the number and intensity of DDoS attacks is only going to increase over the second half of this year. The report suggests that, if the current trends continue, the number of DDoS attacks could rise another 24% by the end of the year.
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