Repeat DDoS Attacks the Norm in Q4 2015, 24 Attacks per Target on Average

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Repeat DDoS Attacks the Norm in Q4 2015, 24 Attacks per Target on Average

By CircleID Reporter
February 29, 2016, 6:37 pm PST Views: 6,964 Add Comment

During Q4, repeat DDoS attacks were the norm, with an average of 24 attacks per targeted customer in Q4, reports Akamai in its newly released Q4 2015 State of the Internet – Security Report. Malicious actors aren’t backing down, says Stuart Scholly, VP and General Manager of Security Business Unit: “They’re hammering away at the same targets over and over again, looking for a moment when defenses may be down.” Study found more than half of the Q4 attacks (54%) targeted gaming companies, with another 23% targeting the software and technology industry.

DDoS Attack Frequency by Industry – The gaming and software industries were targeted 77% of the time in Q4 2015, up from 75% in Q3 2015 (Source: Akamai / Click to Enlarge)

The largest attack of Q4 peaked at 309 Gigabits per second (Gbps) and 202 Million packets per second (Mpps). This attack targeted a customer in the software and technology industry and used an unusual combination of SYN, UDP and NTP attacks originating from the XOR and BillGates botnets. The attack was part of a sustained campaign in which the victim was targeted 19 times over an eight-day period, with additional attacks following in early January.

10 Most Frequently Attack Vectors by Quarter – In Q4, TCP anomaly attacks moved in to the top 10 vectors, edging out ICMP attacks from the top 10 list (Source: Akamai / Click to Enlarge)

Copy of the Q4 2015 State of the Internet – Security Report can be downloaded from www.stateoftheinternet.com/security-report.

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By CircleID Reporter — CircleID’s internal staff reporting on news tips and developing stories. Do you have information the professional Internet community should be aware of? Contact us.
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