The cyber threat landscape continues to evolve, presenting challenges that are more intricate and perilous than ever. Leading the way are troubling Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack trends—once considered a mere nuisance, these have now morphed into sophisticated assaults with the potential to cripple even the most fortified infrastructures.
As we move through 2023, the situation remains equally, if not more, precarious. The financial sector, the backbone of the world economy, is under relentless assault, and even tech giants are not immune.
In this blog, we’ll explore the state of DDoS attack trends, offering insights into the trends, tactics, and trajectories that every enterprise should be acutely aware of.
2023 trends in DDoS attack trends: What happened so far this year?
As a snapshot, in June 2023, Vercara found that there were 3,147 DDoS attacks throughout the course of the month. The total DDoS attacks in June did decrease by 27.77% since May.
Additionally, the largest attack clocked in at 873.85 Gbps. But, overall, DDoS attacks have been broken down by:
- 36% of DDoS attacks in June were 0 to 0.5 gigabits per second
- 15% of 0.5 to 1 Gbps
- Nearly 25% 1 to 5 Gbps
- 7% total 5 to 10 Gbps
- Nearly 12% totaling 10 to 50 Gbps
- Just under 3% of 50 to 100 Gbps
- Around 1% totaling in at over 100 Gbps
Looking for in-depth insights into 2023’s DDoS attacks?Learn more from our cyber attack statistics roundup.Get Started |
Source: Vercara
Attack vectors
Halfway through 2023, the most prevalent attack vector found was User Datagram Protocol (UDP), totaling 19.58% of all attacks using this method.
What is the User Datagram Protocol (UDP)?
These kinds of attacks are often used to target UDP-based applications such as DNS. These attacks are also easy to spoof, though more often you’ll find that most DDoS attacks are direct.
Since UDP is connectionless and does not require a handshake like Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), it’s easier for attackers to spoof IP addresses and flood targets without establishing a proper connection.
Industry targets
So far in 2023, according to our findings, the finance sector remains a significant target of DDoS attacks. Paired with the insurance industry in terms of charting events, finance and insurance accounted for over 20% of DDoS attacks in June.
The software and web services industries took over double the hit in total number of attacks, however, accounting for nearly 50% of all DDoS attacks in the month of June.
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Overall DDoS trends in 2023 so far.
Overall, the focus on specific industries, especially finance and eCommerce, is also telling. Both of these sectors are high-value targets, given the sensitive data they handle, and critical infrastructure whose disruption can have wide-reaching impact.
Future DDoS threats: what to keep an eye out for
- It’s a matter of when, not if.
The number of DDoS attacks are increasing, and it’s really a matter of when your business gets hit. Will you be prepared?
Why is it more of a matter of when? Here’s just a few of the facts:
- Easy-to-use tools: There’s been a rise in easy-to-use DDoS tools and “for-hire” services, and launching a DDoS attack is now accessible to those with limited technical expertise.
- Expanding attack surface: More businesses are moving online, and that means an expanding attack surface. (And the number of potential targets for attackers grows.)
- Evolving complexity of attacks: Defense improves, yes, but attackers learn to innovate around roadblocks, devising more sophisticated and potent attack methods that can bypass traditional security measures.
- Carpet bombing attacks are becoming more common.
Carpet bombing attacks, commonly experienced as a series of small attacks on a network, are becoming more common.
Carpet bombing attacks target an entire IP address range, rather than focusing on specific servers or services. This kind of DDoS attack aims to disrupt a vast swath of resources within a network.
The goal? By spreading the attack across a wide range of IP addresses, the attacker ensures that it’s more difficult for the target to defend. The traffic is distributed, making this all the more of a challenge.
This kind of attack also highlights the importance of having comprehensive network-wide security measures in place. - New attack vectors and vulnerabilities are being discovered each day.
There is one crucial point that remains certain: Trends in DDoS attacks never stay stagnant. With new attack vectors and vulnerabilities being discovered every day, your enterprise needs top-of-the-line protection to defend your assets and keep your online experience secure.
Mitigate DDoS attacks with Vercara
When you choose Vercara’s UltraDDoS Protect, you’re not just getting a defense mechanism; you’re investing in one of the world’s largest dedicated data scrubbing networks. With our white-glove, fully managed approach to DDoS protection, you only get clean, legitimate traffic to your website, applications, and infrastructure.
Why do industry-leading enterprises choose UltraDDoS Protect? To tap into:
- 15+ Tbps on 16 global nodes: Experience unparalleled protection with our vast network.
- Flexible deployment: Tailor your protection based on your unique security requirements, no matter if you need a cloud-based solution, hybrid, always-on, or on-demand.
- 24/7 protection: UltraDDoS Protect is monitored by our 24/7 secure operations center (SOC).
Don’t wait for the next attack. Equip your enterprise with top-tier DDoS protection by contacting us today.
