DDoS attack size growing dramatically

Arbor Networks released data on DDoS attack trends for the first half of 2013. The data shows that DDoS continues to be a global threat, with a clear increase in attack size, speed and complexity.

Darren Anstee, Solutions Architect for Arbor Networks comments: “What we see on a daily basis is an escalation in the size, frequency and complexity of attacks. The resiliency of this attack vector is incredible, and with all of the tools available today that enable anyone to launch or participate in attacks, we don’t see a slow down at all.”

Trending up

  • Average Bits Per Second (BPS) attack size is up 43% so far this year, 46.5% of attacks now over 1Gbps, a jump of 13.5% from 2012
  • Proportion of attacks in the 2 – 10Gbps range more than doubles, from 14.78% to 29.8%
  • Proportion of attacks now over 10Gbps increased 41.6% YTD
  • In the first half or 2013 we have seen more than double the TOTAL number of attacks over 20Gbps we saw in the whole of 2012!

Trending down

  • Attack durations are trending shorter, 86% now last less than one hour
  • Packets Per Second (PPS) attacks sizes seem to be trending downward, reversing the strong growth trend seen in late 2011 and through 2012.

“The increasing volume of highly visible attacks, including a mix of politically motivated attacks, state-sponsored electronic warfare, social activism, organized crime, and good old fashioned pointless mischief and mayhem is being driven by the easy availability of bots/botnets for hire and easily distributed crowd-sourced attack tools,” said Jeff Wilson, principal network security analyst with Infonetics Research.

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