
A unprecedented distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack reached a staggering 5.6 terabits per second, marking the largest such incident in history. The attack, launched by a Mirai-based botnet controlling 13,000 devices, targeted an Eastern Asian internet service provider in October 2024.
Despite its magnitude, Cloudflare’s autonomous detection and mitigation systems successfully defended against the 80-second assault without any service disruption. This attack surpassed the previous record of 3.8 Tbps set earlier that month.
Key Trends in DDoS Attacks:
– Dramatic increase in hyper-volumetric attacks, with Q4 2024 showing a 1,885% quarter-over-quarter growth in attacks exceeding 1Tbps
– 175% rise in attacks surpassing 100 million packets per second
– Majority of attacks (72% HTTP and 91% network layer) lasted less than 10 minutes
– Ransom DDoS attacks increased 78% quarter-over-quarter
Geographic and Industry Impact:
– Most targeted regions: China, Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Germany
– Primary targets: Telecommunications, service providers, internet sector, and marketing industries
The trend toward brief but intense “blitz” attacks highlights the critical need for automated, always-on DDoS protection, as human response times prove inadequate against these rapidly evolving threats.