DDoS attacks, designed to overwhelm and incapacitate online services, have become a significant concern for businesses and organizations worldwide. DDoS attacks are expected to number over 15.4 million in 2023, and attacks are growing in scope and scale as well.
In this blog, we’ll briefly look at DDoS attacks and dive into what you can learn from them. Then we’ll explore the motivation behind DDoS attacks, and how Vercara protects enterprises against these formidable threats.
Before we look at the biggest DDoS attacks, let’s understand the difference between DoS and DDoS.
What is a DoS attack?
A Denial of Service (DoS) attack is a cyber attack in which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by temporarily or indefinitely disrupting the services of a host connected to the Internet. In a classic DoS attack, the attack source is a single location.
Instances of recent DoS attacks are rarely reported publicly simply because they’re smaller in scale and have a lesser collateral impact.
What is a DDoS attack?
A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, on the other hand, is an amplified version of a DoS attack that uses multiple compromised computer systems as attack sources. DDoS attacks flood their targets with attack traffic that prevents legitimate users from accessing expected services.
In this blog, all of our examples are of DDoS attacks.
Let’s measure the largest DDoS attacks.When we talk about DDoS attacks, the image that typically springs to mind is that of a volumetric attack. This is the classic flavor of DDoS that first burst onto the scene in the late 1990s. Often referred to as “floods,” volumetric attacks do precisely what the name suggests: they inundate a target’s resources with an overwhelming deluge of requests. The intensity of these attacks is gauged in bits per second (bps) or, for the particularly nasty ones, Gigabits per second (Gbps). The modus operandi of a volumetric attack is simple: drown the infrastructure under a sea of requests, overwhelming it. Most attacks are less than 1 Gbps in size, though large DDoS attack examples are only growing every year. |
What is the true cost of recent DDoS attacks?
DDoS attacks can cost businesses in several ways:
It creates financial losses.
The immediate financial impact of a DDoS attack can be substantial. Businesses may lose revenue if their services or websites are unavailable. Failing to meet service-level commitments can also trigger compensation clauses.
It damages your reputation.
A DDoS attack can damage a company’s reputation, leading to loss of customers and potential future sales.
The cost of recovery is high.
The cost of recovering from a DDoS attack can also be significant, including the cost of IT services to restore systems as well as potential regulatory fines or legal costs.
| Always available, always protecting Discover how Vercara’s UltraDDoS Protect service protects some of the biggest enterprises worldwide against DDoS attacks. | Learn more about our UltraDDoS Protect service. View Solution Sheet |
Why are DDoS attacks launched?
DDoS attacks are not random acts of chaos; they are calculated and purposeful. The motivations behind these attacks can be as varied as the methods used to execute them. Let’s delve into the reasons why DDoS attacks are launched.
Financial gain drives many DDoS attacks.
Cybercriminals often use DDoS attacks as a form of digital extortion, demanding payment from targeted businesses to stop the attack. In other cases, they might be hired by a competitor to disrupt a rival’s services. Financial gain is a major motivator behind many DDoS exploits.
Hacktivism and cyber warfare employ DDoS.
DDoS attacks can serve as tools for political activism or cyber warfare. Hacktivists may use DDoS to make a political statement or protest an organization or government. Nation-states have also been known to leverage DDoS attacks as part of their cyber warfare strategies, targeting critical infrastructure to cause disruption.
Chaos for chaos’ sake.
Some attacks are perpetrated by individuals or groups seeking to cause disruption for thrill or bragging rights. These chaos-motivated actors launch attacks to test their skills or make a name in the hacker community.
Smokescreens for other malicious activities.
DDoS attacks can also serve as smokescreens enabling attackers to carry out other malicious activities behind the cover of a distracting flood of junk traffic. While defenders are preoccupied with DDoS mitigation, attackers may steal data or infiltrate networks undetected.
Understanding the motivations behind DDoS attacks is crucial when developing security and mitigation strategies. Effective defense requires looking beyond technical protections to understand threat actors and their incentives.
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Vercara helps enterprises protect against big DDoS attacks.
Vercara offers comprehensive cloud-based DDoS protection and security intelligence that caters to the needs of 2,000+ organizations worldwide. Our flexible network, boasting over 15+ Tbps capacity, was purpose-built for DDoS protection, ensuring low-latency, high-capacity, and DDoS-specific protections, regardless of where your assets are deployed.
Our flagship service, UltraDDoS Protect, is a fully managed DDoS protection service that defends your website, applications, and infrastructure, allowing only legitimate, clean traffic to flow through.
Vercara’s service is designed to detect and mitigate dangerous and complex DDoS attacks, securing your company against motivated attackers. With fully manned, 24/7 operations, you can trust a reliable partner to monitor and respond to threats always.
Find out how we protect some of the largest organizations in the world and streamline security to meet your unique infrastructure.
