Source URL: https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/23/who_is_ddosing_you_competitors/
Source: The Register
Title: Who is DDoSing you? Rivals, probably, or cheesed-off users
Feedly Summary: Plus: ‘Largest-ever’ duff traffic tsunami clocks in at 5.6 Tbps
In addition to Chinese spies invading organizations’ networks and ransomware crews locking up sensitive files, botnets blasting distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks can still cause a world of hurt — and website downtime — and it’s quite likely your competitors are to blame.…
AI Summary and Description: Yes
**Summary:**
The text discusses the rising trend and impact of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, highlighting a significant leap in the frequency and scale of these attacks as reported by Cloudflare. It reveals key insights into the actors behind these incidents, the record-setting nature of the latest DDoS onslaught, and the evolving landscape of ransom-related DDoS demands, making it relevant for professionals concerned with cloud computing and security.
**Detailed Description:**
The article provides an in-depth analysis of a recent trends report by Cloudflare, outlining alarming statistics and patterns regarding DDoS attacks in 2024. Key points include:
– **Increased Attack Volume:**
– Cloudflare blocked 21.3 million DDoS attacks in 2024, marking a 53% increase from the previous year.
– Notably, one attack achieved a record scale of 5.6 terabits per second, leveraging a Mirai-variant botnet made up of over 13,000 IoT devices.
– The previous record was surpassed, reflecting a growing trend in attack severity.
– **Sources of Attacks:**
– 40% of reported attacks were attributed to competitors.
– State-sponsored actors and disgruntled users were each responsible for 17% of attacks.
– Other sources included extortionists (14%), self-inflicted attacks (7%), hacktivists (2%), and former employees (2%).
– **Nature of DDoS Attacks:**
– A surge in ransom demands associated with DDoS incidents was documented, with 12% of targeted organizations experiencing extortion requests.
– The frequency of hyper-volumetric attacks (exceeding 1 Tbps) saw an astonishing increase of 1,885% quarter-over-quarter.
– **Mitigation Strategies:**
– The report emphasizes the challenge of manual intervention in mitigating DDoS attacks due to their brevity, with 72% of HTTP attacks concluding within ten minutes.
– Cloudflare’s autonomous DDoS mitigation capabilities played a crucial role in thwarting these attacks without human interaction, ensuring that customer systems remained unaffected.
– **Critical Observations:**
– The evolving landscape of DDoS attacks necessitates robust defenses and rapid automated responses to protect cloud infrastructure and maintain operational integrity.
This analysis illustrates significant trends and implications for security professionals, particularly in the realms of cloud computing and infrastructure security, highlighting the need for proactive measures and advanced mitigation strategies against increasingly sophisticated and damaging cyber threats.