Massive Increase In DDoS Attacks
Businesses are being changed by the economics of the Coronavirus-driven lockdown and for those trying to work online there has been a significant increase in Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, according to network infrastructure service provider Voxility.
The profile of the operations targeted is typically large Hosting Providers with global operations.
According to Voxility's data, attacks peaked at 1,035 gigabits per second (Gbps) and 1,044 Gbps on September 3 and September 4, 2020, accompanied subsequently by lower intensity attacks of 798 Gbps and 854 Gbps more recently. Voxility has helped mitigate the attacks, which it says last 15 minutes on average.
Working from home, online learning and increased video demand meant that some network operators have been working hard to keep up throughout 2020. Unfortunately, contrasting reports about post-outbreak DDoS activity from the major DDoS industry players could mean that it will be some time before the currents wave attacks into an informative context that fits consistently with the statistical trends of recent years.
These were made up of volumetric User Datagram Protocol (UDP) flood, comprising abnormally large UDP packets, DNS amplification, and UDP packets without payload, in an attempt to overwhelm infrastructure ports with IP traffic. UDP is a communications protocol that is primarily used for establishing low-latency and loss-tolerating connections between applications on the internet. It speeds up transmissions by enabling the transfer of data before an agreement is provided by the receiving party.
There were more than 600 different originating source IPs per DDoS event and it seems likley that more large DDoS attacks should be expected in coming weeks.
Voxility, who rent and sell hardware, network equipment, Internet access and DDoS security services, says, “The motivations behind these waves of DDoS attacks are uncertain at this point. Whether they are caused by extortion attempts or simply seeking to disrupt the hosting provider’s operations, very large volumetric DDoS attacks are occurring often across networks...... In August alone, Voxility saw more than 30 attack waves that surpassed 500Gbps in volume intensity, while at least six to seven events out of these where higher than 700Gbps. This is in contrast to what has been reported by website security companies in 2020 who have seen a more frequent, but lower-intensity attack landscape for DDoS.”
The geographical origin of these attacks is currently under investigation, but worryingly for service providers, the frequency of these attacks has increased coinciding with the global pandemic.
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