Big increase in DDoS attacks in the first quarter of 2019, after a long period of recession

During its first quarter 2019, the number of DDoS attacks seems to have increased by 84%, compared to its fourth quarter 2018. 

ΣIn particular, there was a significant increase in attacks that lasted more than an hour. Data from the Kaspersky Lab DDoS Q1 2019 report show that there has been a resurgence of DDoS methods, with criminals focusing on longer attacks.

Last year, the number of DDoS attacks continued to decline, leading Kaspersky Lab experts to speculate that digital criminals carrying out DDoS attacks for financial gain had shifted their focus to other sources of revenue (such as cryptocurrency mining).

However, statistics for the first quarter of 2019 contradict this trend and show that the number of DDoS attacks blocked by Kaspersky DDoS Protection increased by 84% compared to the fourth quarter of 2018. This number may to indicate that there was a demand for such attacks and services, even though they were not available when popular DDoS markets ceased to operate. As new DDoS-for-Hire sites launched, the number of attacks increased exponentially as a result.

The most significant increase was observed in the duration of the attacks, as we saw the number of DDoS attacks performed for more than an hour increase rapidly by 487%. These statistics confirm the hypothesis of Kaspersky Lab experts that hackers are evolving their techniques and are now able to launch longer attacks that are more difficult to organize.

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