Surge in DDoS Attacks Reported by Cloudflare in 2024
/ 3 min read
Quick take - Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, which have significantly increased in scale and frequency over the past decade, pose a serious threat to online services by overwhelming them with traffic, prompting companies like Cloudflare to implement advanced mitigation strategies to protect against these evolving threats.
Fast Facts
- DDoS attacks disrupt online services by overwhelming them with requests, primarily targeting unprotected websites and services.
- The prevalence of DDoS attacks has surged, with Cloudflare mitigating over 14.5 million attacks in 2024 alone, averaging 2,200 per hour.
- Key metrics for DDoS severity include requests per second (rps), with notable peaks reaching 6 million rps in 2020 and 201 million rps in September 2024.
- There is a shift from IoT-based botnets to VM-based botnets, driven by the capabilities of cloud-hosted virtual machines, changing attackers’ strategies.
- Cloudflare employs advanced DDoS protection measures, including automated detection, global traffic distribution, and machine learning for real-time threat identification.
Understanding DDoS Attacks
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks pose a significant threat to online services by disrupting their functionality through overwhelming requests. These attacks are executed using a network of distributed devices that flood the target system, aiming to consume bandwidth or exhaust resources. DDoS attacks are particularly effective against unprotected websites and services, and their execution is relatively inexpensive for attackers.
Surge in DDoS Attacks
Over the last decade, the prevalence of DDoS attacks has surged, exhibiting an exponential growth pattern. Cloudflare, a leading web infrastructure and security company, has reported mitigating over 14.5 million DDoS attacks since the beginning of 2024, averaging approximately 2,200 attacks per hour. Key metrics for assessing the severity of DDoS attacks include requests per second (rps), packets per second (pps), and bits per second (bps).
In 2020, the number of requests per second peaked at 6 million rps, while large mitigated attacks have reached 201 million rps as recently as September 2024. The size and scale of DDoS attacks have dramatically increased over time, with packets per second rising from 230 million in 2015 to 2,100 million in 2024, and bits per second escalating from 309 Gbps in 2013 to 5.6 Tbps in 2024. Significant attacks noted by Cloudflare include 17.2 million rps in August 2021 and another notable attack that reached 71 million rps in February 2023. A staggering 5.6 Tbps attack occurred in October 2024.
Evolving Landscape of DDoS Attacks
The landscape of DDoS attacks is evolving, with a notable shift from Internet of Things (IoT) based botnets to virtual machine (VM) based botnets. This transition is driven by the enhanced capabilities of cloud-hosted virtual machines, which can be easier to establish than IoT botnets as they do not require widespread malware infections. The source of attack traffic has shifted from IoT devices to cloud provider IP addresses, indicating a change in attackers’ strategies.
Cloudflare employs advanced DDoS protection measures, including automated detection and mitigation, global traffic distribution, and layered defense strategies. Machine learning algorithms are utilized for real-time identification of suspicious traffic patterns, while IP anycast technology allows for the distribution of DDoS traffic across multiple data centers, minimizing the impact on individual servers. Cloudflare also provides unmetered DDoS mitigation, ensuring continuous protection without bandwidth or cost limitations during attacks.
The persistent threat of DDoS attacks necessitates the use of automated tools for effective defense, as these tools can rapidly adapt to evolving attack vectors and behaviors. Cloudflare’s mission is to build a safer Internet, reflecting a commitment to enhancing resilience against DDoS threats and maintaining online service integrity.
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