DDoS Attacks Surge in Q2

According to the cloud delivery provider Akamai, DDoS attacks spiked in the Q2 for the first time in nearly a year.

The State of the Internet/Security Report for Q2 2017 is based on data collected from over 230,000 servers in more than 1,600 networks. It found a 28% increase in the volume of DDoS attacks since Q1, despite being on the decline for the past three consecutive quarters.

Attackers are bringing back some tried-and-true methods including PBot, Mirai, and Domain Generation Algorithms (DGA) that have proven incredibly effective in the past.

The report included such an attack involving PBot malware that allowed attackers to build a mini-botnet capable of launching a 75Gbps attack, the largest recorded in Q2. Mirai was found to be used frequently in “pay for play” attacks as a DDoS service-for-hire technique.

The infamous Mirai malware was responsible for knocking popular websites like Twitter, Spotify, and PayPal offline during a massive DDoS attack targeting cheap connected IoT devices. Mirai binds IoT devices together to form one large connected network, then uses those devices to flood websites with phony requests, overloading the sites and knocking them offline.

Defending against DDoS attacks can seem like an unmanageable task, but NNT recommends these 5 steps to protect against a DDoS attack:

1. Implement System & Device Hardening to your IT environment
2. Continuously monitor using FIM
3. Stay on the lookout for Botnets
4. Keep a close eye on performance metrics and scalability
5. Implement a security awareness program

Read this article on InfoSecurity Magazine