1Large DDoS Attacks on the Rise, Akamai Report Finds
Akamai finds an increasing volume of DDoS attacks greater than 100G bps in Q4, while the volume of web application attacks declined.
2Largest Attack in the Quarter Was 517G bps
While DDoS attacks larger than 100G bps were once very rare, there were 12 such attacks in the fourth quarter. The top attack came in at a peak bandwidth of 517G bps.
3Mirai Remains Active
Botnets remain the top source of DDoS attack traffic. Four botnets generated 10 DDoS attacks exceeding 300G bps between July 2014 and December 2016, with the Mirai IoT botnet holding the top two spots.
4The U.S. Is the Top Source of DDoS Attacks
While DDoS is a global phenomenon, the U.S. is the top source of DDoS attack traffic, representing 24 percent of attacks in the fourth quarter of 2016.
5DDoS Attacks Use Different Methods
There are a number of different technical protocols and methods that DDoS attacks can use. In the fourth quarter, UDP fragments topped the list at 27.39 percent, followed by DNS at 20.60 percent.
6SQL Injection Remains the Top Web Application Attack
More than half (51.29 percent) of web application attacks in the fourth quarter made use of SQL Injection (SQLi) in an attempt to exploit vulnerable applications.
7The U.S. Is the Top Target
According to Akamai, in the fourth quarter of 2016, the vast majority web application attacks targeted the U.S.
8Web Application Attacks Declined in Q4
In the fourth quarter, there was a 19 percent decrease in the total number of web application attacks monitored by Akamai. Also of note is the fact that there was a decrease in web application attacks coming from the U.S.