DDoS attackers (Distributed Denial of Service) apparently did not go on vacation this year. As a recent report from Kaspersky shows, the number of attacks has actually increased significantly.
This year, instead of the usual decline in Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, there is a significant increase in the second quarter of 2020. This is shown in the latest DDoS report from Kaspersky . Accordingly, Kaspersky discovered 217 percent more attacks in the second quarter than in the same period last year. The number also increased slightly compared to the first quarter of 2020.
The results are in great contradiction to the usual seasonal trends of the past few years. DDoS attacks usually peak at the beginning of each year – analogous to the high season for business activities. The numbers usually drop again in late spring and summer. In 2019, there were 39 percent fewer DDoS attacks in the second quarter than in the first quarter. In 2018 it was 34 percent less. However, many people are currently spending their vacation at home or have already canceled planned vacation. Kaspersky experts see this as the reason why the annual summer slump in terms of DDoS attacks does not materialize this year.
No summer break due to the corona crisis
This trend is also reflected in the number of commands bots are receiving from command-and-control servers. The average daily number of registered attacks in the second quarter rose by 30 percent compared to the previous quarter. The negative record was set on April 9 with almost 300 attacks (in the previous quarter the maximum was only 242 attacks).
“This year people couldn’t enjoy their vacation as usual as a result of Covid-19,” explains Alexey Kiselev, Business Development Manager in the Kaspersky DDoS Protection Team. “This has resulted in more people than usual relying on online resources for personal and professional activities. This is making this summer a busy time for online business and information resources,” he said. “As a result, there were unexpectedly many DDoS attacks that, based on current knowledge, are unlikely to abate,” said Kiselev.
