Akamai: DDoS Attacks Increased 71 Percent in Q3 2016 as Compared to Q3 2015

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Akamai: DDoS Attacks Increased 71 Percent in Q3 2016 as Compared to Q3 2015

By CircleID Reporter
November 16, 2016, 12:01 am PST Views: 9,890 Add Comment

Akamai releases its Third Quarter, 2016 State of the Internet / Security Report, providing analysis of the current cloud security and threat landscape, including insight into two record setting DDoS attacks caused by the Mirai botnet.

— The year of harbinger attacks: “Every couple of years the industry faces what could be considered ‘harbinger attacks’, where the size and scope of a security event are radically different than what has come before,” says Martin McKeay, Akamai’s senior security advocate and senior editor. “I believe the industry faced its latest ‘harbinger’ with the Mirai botnet. The Mirai botnet also made concrete the industry’s fear that Internet of Things (IoT) and other Internet-connected devices could be used for both web application and DDoS attacks, illustrating the need for device manufacturers to place a greater emphasis on security.”

— Historical perspective: “Election Day traffic on Akamai in 2004 peaked at a relatively modest 21 Gbps. The 2009 Obama inauguration reached 1.1 Tbps and the Royal Wedding in 2011 hit 1.3 Tbps. More recently, the first 2016 Presidential debate peaked at 4.4 Tbps in September.”

— “The two largest DDoS attacks this quarter, both leveraging the Mirai botnet, were the biggest observed by Akamai to-date—recorded at 623 Gbps and 555 Gbps.”

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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