Web DDoS attacks up over 500 percent
The total number of web DDoS attacks surged 550 percent last year compared to 2023, according to the latest report from Radware.
The average duration of network DDoS attacks increased 37 percent over 2023, with North America facing 66 percent of web application and API attacks.
In addition, the report shows almost 400 percent year-on-year growth in DDoS attack volume strikes against finance and transportation. Hacktivist claims have also risen 20 percent globally with governments being the top targets. Ukraine was the most targeted nation by hacktivists with 2,052 claimed attacks, followed by Israel with 1,550.
"Multiple catalysts drove the threat revolution witnessed in 2024, including geopolitical
conflicts, bigger and more complex threat surfaces, and more sophisticated and persistent
threats," says Pascal Geenens, director of threat intelligence at Radware. "Add to that the
impact of AI, which is lowering barriers to entry, multiplying the number of adversaries and
enabling even novice actors to successfully launch malicious campaigns, and what you have is a threat landscape that looks very daunting."
Among other findings are that the average mitigated attack volume rose 120 percent compared to 2023. The average duration of attacks increased 37 percent over 2023 too.
Organizations in Europe have faced the highest proportion of network DDoS activity, accounting for 45 percent of the global attack volume, followed by North America (21 percent).
Telecommunications saw 43 percent of the global network DDoS attack volume, followed by finance at 30 percent. Growing faster than the global average of 120 percent, finance experienced the steepest growth in attack volume per organization increasing 393 percent year-on-year, followed by transportation and logistics (375 percent), eCommerce (238 percent), and service providers (237 percent).
"The escalations in the threat landscape have significant implications for every sector from
finance and telecommunications to government and eCommerce and beyond," adds
Geenens. "Organizations are operating in a dynamic environment that demands equally
dynamic defense strategies. While bad actors don’t have to do their jobs perfectly to have a
major impact, defenders do."
You can get the full report from the Radware site.
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