DDoS attacks grew in number, volume, and intensity in the first half of 2020 compared to the first half of 2019, and both very large and very small DDoS attacks showed increased sophistication and intensity in 2020, according to new data from Neustar.
Small DDoS attacks - 5 Gbps or less - grew by more than 200% year over year while very large attacks (100 Gbps and above) showed a 275% growth. And according to the Cambridge University Cybercrime Centre, most of the growth came not from existing criminal groups increasing their activities, but from new players in the DDoS marketplace.
The period also featured the largest volumetric attack Neustar has ever seen, with 1.17 terabits-per-second aimed at the victim. The company reports that amplification attacks also grew in the first half, with one that measured 800 million packets-per-second.
This growth in attack sizes and frequencies came during the rapid Internet traffic growth that accompanied the worsening COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, Internet use was up 50 - 70%, and streaming media up more than 12% in the first quarter of 2020 alone, according to Omdia.
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Curtis Franklin Jr. is Senior Editor at Dark Reading. In this role he focuses on product and technology coverage for the publication. In addition he works on audio and video programming for Dark Reading and contributes to activities at Interop ITX, Black Hat, INsecurity, and … View Full Bio
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