DDoS attack frequency increased 380 percent in Q1 2017

Cybersecurity analysts recommend flexible, always-on resources through multi-layered approaches to combat new threats.

Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack frequency exploded by 380 percent in the first quarter of 2017 compared to the same time last year, according to Nexusguard’s “Q1 2017 Threat Report.” The quarterly report, which measured more than 16,600 attacks, showed that hackers took no breaks, causing record-breaking hours- and days-long attacks over Valentine’s Day, Chinese New Year and other typically quiet periods during the season. Additionally, HTTP Flood attacks increased by 147 percent this quarter, targeting the application layer and overtaking TCP, DNS and other popular volumetric attacks in popularity. With 93 percent of attacks using a mix of application and volumetric vulnerabilities, enterprises that have not yet upgraded to multi-layered defense mechanisms had the highest exposure to these costly interruptions.

The increased adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) has also provided a wealth of connections and insecure devices for hackers to target with long-lasting attacks over the first few months of 2017. Nexusguard, the global leader in fighting malicious Internet attacks, gathers the DDoS attack data through botnet scanning, honeypots, ISPs and traffic moving between attackers and their targets that is unbiased by any single set of customers or industries. With lengthier attacks at erratic intervals becoming the norm, the company recommends enterprises implement multi-layered mitigation to assure systems aren’t overwhelmed with multiple DDoS vectors.

“IoT botnets are only the beginning for this new reign of cyberattacks. Hackers have the scale to conduct gigantic, continuous attacks; plus, teams have to contend with attacks that use a combination of volumetric and application aspects,” said Juniman Kasman, chief technology officer for Nexusguard. “This early data for 2017 shows that enterprises need to employ multi-layered defenses that use nimble resources, including large, redundant scrubbing networks and around-the-clock security operations if they hope to keep from drowning in the deluge of new attacks.”

Nexusguard analysts found the U.S. was the leading source of DDoS attacks, originating 23 percent of the attacks measured. As more households install devices that can be controlled over apps or the web, researchers predict hackers can hijack these poorly-guarded IP addresses for sustained, sophisticated attacks.

Read the full "Q1 2017 Threat Report" for more details.