Latest DDoS Report reveals recent trends in DDoS attacks, plus predictions for 2022

Lumen Technologies continues to track Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks around the world, and the company released a report that details the DDoS statistics and trends seen in the fourth quarter and full-year 2021.

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Speed Read:

• In 2021, the three most attacked verticals were Telecommunications, Software and Technology, and Government. This is likely due to the level of disruption – and any potential financial gain – that these types of attacks can generate.
• In Q4 2021, there was an increase in the number of unique Command and Control (C2) servers tracked for the pervasive DDoS botnets Gafgyt and Mirai, indicating that actors continue to manipulate their code to keep these botnets thriving.
• Voice providers became a target later in the year, and malicious actors could view this early success as an opportunity for future attacks.
• Financial gain is a significant motivator for attackers, and there were spikes in the use of ransom DDoS attacks throughout the year. This trend is expected to continue into 2022 and beyond.
• Reflection-style attacks continue to be widely used – likely because they require relatively little effort to generate large attacks.

“Reflection vectors continue to have a significant impact on businesses worldwide,” said Mark Dehus, director of information security for Black Lotus Labs, the threat research arm of Lumen Technologies.  “This trend will likely continue in the coming years. It will take an industry-wide, collaborative effort to help mitigate sources of reflection. In addition, DDoS botnets will persist, and given the recent targeting of voice services, VoIP providers should ensure their security strategies address the risk going forward.”

Dehus continued, “At Black Lotus Labs, we continue to do our part to track and mitigate botnets at their core. We strongly encourage business to understand and monitor their public attack surface to avoid having their resources abused and leveraged to launch attacks. We also encourage businesses to have a DDoS mitigation service in place to help minimize the impact of any future attacks.

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