Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are getting smarter and increasing in every available vector in 2022. This style of attack was up 434% in 2021 over the previous year. Additionally, targeted smart attacks were up 31% and multi-vector attacks were up 73%. US Banks were targeted the most, but the healthcare industry, remote learning and education, and technology companies also ranked high on the list of targeted demographics. The United States also tops the list of targeted countries at 54% followed by India and Europe.
Microsoft released details over the weekend of a new record-breaking DDoS attack they fended off. The attack peaked at 3.47 Tbps and came from 10,000 sources across 10 countries. DDoS attacks occur when hackers use compromised devices connected to the internet to overload a targeted server, website, or network. IoT devices are one category of devices that can be weaponized. Read our recent blog post on IoT security here.
Criminals are also using compromised servers to amplify attack numbers causing new attacks to still break records. Hackers use open DNS resolvers to filter the data through and increase the size of the attack hundreds of times the original size.
While a DDoS attack is not a data breach, it can act as a diversion for a ransomware attack. The attacks are becoming more targeted, so criminals could use a DDoS attack to divert IT resources to give hackers more time in the network to steal and encrypt data. Typically, DDoS attacks intend to deface company or government websites, create financial hardship, or disrupt web traffic. Lately, hackers have been targeting online gaming servers because a disruption of just a couple of seconds can have a detrimental outcome in an online multi-player game.
No business is too small to be attacked. It’s important to understand the threats of a DDoS attack and discuss options with your MSP to keep from becoming an easy target. Some best practices include up-to-date firewalls, understanding your bandwidth need, and monitoring tools to alert you of an attack.
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