DDoS perpetrators changed tactics in the third quarter of 2013 to boost attack sizes and hide their identities, according to a report from Prolexic Technologies, a provider of distributed denial of service (DDoS) protection services.
“This quarter, the major concern is that reflection attacks are accelerating dramatically, increasing 265% over Q3 2012 and up 70% over Q2,” says Stuart Scholly, president of Prolexic. “The bottom line is that DDoS attackers have found an easier, more efficient way to launch high bandwidth attacks with smaller botnets and that’s concerning.”
Attackers are flocking to so-called distributed reflection denial of service (DrDoS) attacks as they provide the benefit of obscuring the source of the attack (anonymity), while enabling the bandwidth of intermediary victims to be used, often unknowingly, to multiply the size of the attack (amplification). In DrDos attacks, there are always two victims, the intended target and the intermediary.
Prolexic’s latest report reveals that the total number of attacks against its clients in Q3 2013 remained high and represented the highest total for one quarter. This occurrence illustrates a consistently heightened level of DDoS activity around the world over the last six months. Of note, more than 62% of Q3 DDoS attacks originated from China, far surpassing all other countries.
Findings are based on data gathered from attacks launched during the quarter against Prolexic’s global client base.
Summary highlights from Prolexic’s Q3 2013 Global DDoS Attack Report, compared to Q2 2013:
* 1,58% increase in total DDOS attacks;
* 6% decrease in application layer (Layer 7) attacks;
* 4% increase in infrastructure (Layer 3 & 4) attacks; and
* 44% decrease in the average attack duration: 21.33 hours versus 38 hours.
Compared to Q3 2012, the report found:
* 58% increase in total DDOS attacks;
* 101% increase in application layer (Layer 7) attacks;
* 48% increase in infrastructure (Layer 3 & 4) attacks; and
* 12,3% increase in the average attack duration: 21.33 hours versus 19 hours.
Prolexic data for Q3 2013 shows a 70% increase in reflection attacks (DNS and CHARGEN) over the previous quarter and a 265% increase over the same quarter last year. This rise in DrDoS attacks should come as no surprise, as attack methods that inflict high damage with low effort will always be popular.
“DrDoS attacks don’t require as many bots because the amplification factor is so large,” explains Scholly. “Because less outbound bot traffic is needed, the botnet can be much smaller. This makes it easier for these botnets to fly under the radar unless you know what to look for.”