<p>StormWall specialists have detected DDoS attacks conducted with the help of the most powerful botnet for the entire existence of the Internet. The maximum attack power reaches 2 Tbit/s, which at the moment is an absolute record among all attacks involving botnets. Most DDoS attacks were directed at the gaming industry.</p>

StormWall specialists have detected DDoS attacks conducted with the help of the most powerful botnet for the entire existence of the Internet.

New 2 Tbps DDoS Attacks, 2021 | StormWall

<div class="events-post-page__wrapper">
<h1>One of the Most Powerful Botnets in the History of the Internet Has Been Discovered, Which Allows Launching DDoS Attacks up to 2 Tbit/S</h1>
<span>15 September 2021</span>

<p>StormWall specialists have detected DDoS attacks conducted with the help of the most powerful botnet for the entire existence of the Internet. The maximum attack power reaches 2 Tbit/s, which at the moment is an absolute record among all attacks involving botnets. Most DDoS attacks were directed at the gaming industry.</p>

<p>The new botnet consists of 49 thousand devices, among which, remarkably, there are only servers, while there are no ordinary computers or mobile devices. The attacks carried out by the new botnet are quite standard, it can launch attacks using the <a href="https://stormwall.network/knowledge-base/protocol/udp">UDP</a>, <a href="https://stormwall.network/knowledge-base/protocol/tcp">TCP</a>, and <a href="https://stormwall.network/knowledge-base/protocol/http">HTTP</a> protocols (at layer 7 of the OSI model) with browser emulation. Hackers have been using the new tool for about a month, experts record the most powerful attacks on companies every day. This botnet originates from Spain and can be purchased online, the cost of the tool starts from $2500 for two days.</p>

<p>The new botnet is much more dangerous than its predecessors. Attacks of such power affect not only the victim but also the entire chain of its providers and can cause problems with access to the Internet at the same time for hundreds of thousands of users and online resources. Due to the fact that the attack has a large capacity, protection against it will be expensive, and only cloud <a href="https://stormwall.network/">DDoS protection services</a> with sufficient filtering network capacity will be able to cope with it, and there can be no question of independent protection.</p>
</div>

One of the Most Powerful Botnets in the History of the Internet Has Been Discovered, Which Allows Launching DDoS Attacks up to 2 Tbit/S

<p><img alt="How a DDoS attack can damage your website." src="https://content2.stormwall.network/or/articles/ddos-danger-for-site_w950-1643816942752.jpg" /></p>

<p>Brining your website down is the most obvious, but there are subtler ways in which DDoS attacks can harm your business. In this article, we&rsquo;re looking at the top 5 ways how DDoS can damage your online resource.</p>

There are a few options that can cause trouble because of DDoS attack: website downtime, increased vulnerability to hacking, SEO penalties, etc.

Damage from DDoS Attacks for Websites | StormWall

<p><em>9 september 2021</em></p>

<h1>How a DDoS Attack Can Damage Your Website</h1>

<p>In previous articles, we&rsquo;ve talked about the various types of DDoS protection and who&rsquo;s in the most danger of becoming an attack victim. But just how does a Denial of Service attack impact your online business? Here are some of the most notable ways:</p>

<ul>
	<li>Website downtime;</li>
	<li>Increased vulnerability to hacking;</li>
	<li>SEO penalties;</li>
	<li>Damaged reputation;</li>
	<li>Incorrect functioning of certain systems.</li>
</ul>

<p><img alt="How a DDoS attack can damage your website." src="https://content2.stormwall.network/or/articles/ddos-danger-for-site_w950-1643816942752.jpg" /></p>

<h2>Website downtime</h2>

<p>By overloading the server&rsquo;s CPU, RAM, and even network throughput, DDoS renders a website unavailable to customers and backend users alike. That means that if you&rsquo;re running an online store, your visitors won&rsquo;t be able to make a purchase. Actually, they won&rsquo;t even be able to load the homepage. This leads to reputational risks, loss of customer loyalty, and loss of revenue. Imagine how many of those customers will turn to competitors, especially if their request is time-sensitive. In fact, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/10/a-lot/505025/" target="blank">an hour of downtime costed up to $20,000</a> to one-third of affected businesses interviewed in one research.</p>

<h2>Increased vulnerability to hacking</h2>

<p>A DDoS attack can shut down some of the security systems of your website, creating additional vulnerabilities. For example, hackers may find it easier to access your resource via a back door, while the website is paralized by a network flood. What&rsquo;s more, some DDoS actors use the attacks as a diversion, distracting your security staff from potentially more dangerous malware strikes, aimed at stealing sensitive information or gaining access to your system.</p>

<h2>SEO penalties</h2>

<p>Overloaded websites return 502 bad gateway errors when users try visiting them. If a website is unavailable for long enough, there&rsquo;s a high chance that Google will crawl the website while it&rsquo;s down and decrease it&rsquo;s SEO ranking. What&rsquo;s more, if the website remains down longer than a couple of days, there&rsquo;s a chance that when it comes back online, the internal linking structure will be lost for Google indexing, messing up the website&rsquo;s presentation in search results. &nbsp;</p>

<h2>Risks to reputation</h2>

<p>According to a poll of 5,000 businesses, 39% of owners fear losing clients to competitors more than they fear direct revenue loss or spending additional mitigation costs. Indeed, if the website stays down long enough, chances are that even loyal customers will start looking for alternatives in the market. While for some, websites aren&rsquo;t a direct sales tool, having a resource unavailable is still a direct risk to reputation. Imagine a shop that doesn&rsquo;t have a store-front, only letting customers in through the backdoor. What shady business may be going in there, right?</p>

<h2>Incorrect functioning of certain systems</h2>

<p>This is a rarer one, but did you know that DDoS attacks can be used to cheat the system? Imagine running a car bids marketplace that has a leaderboard of most visited ads, located at a prime spot on the homepage. Normally, the ad with the most visits would reflect the hottest, most wanted car and it would make sense to have it highlighted, for the benefit of both the seller and all potential buyers. Yet, a system like this can be easily cheated using DDoS. Since every DDoS attack consists of sending &ldquo;fake&rdquo; visitors, AKA bot traffic to a website, if done carefully, it can ramp up the visit counter on a particular page without bringing the whole website down. A smart way to get some free advertising on our imaginary car bidding website. So, if your website has functionality that leverages page visits, filtering out bots is essential to ensuring that it runs properly and fairly.</p>

<p>As you can see, a DDoS attack can inflict tremendous damage to any website, causing victims to lose money, reputation, SEO ranking and even increasing the chance you will get hacked. With experts universally agreeing that the strength and quantity of DDoS attacks will keep increasing in 2021, thinking about protection now is paramount. Thankfully, trusted security providers such as StormWall can take care of your security needs for you, with online DDoS protection. Consider visiting the <a href="https://stormwall.network/website-protection" target="blank"> website protection</a> page to learn more about our solutions.</p>

How a DDoS Attack Can Damage Your Website

<p>Microsoft experts record a 25% increase in assaults between Q4 2020 and the first half of 2021. In addition, attacks have increased significantly in volume and complexity. This trend will continue. Thanks to the growing popularity of IoT devices and the big interest in blockchain technologies.</p>

<p><img alt="DDoS attacks within Azure surge" height="700" src="https://content2.stormwall.network/or/articles/articles/global-ddos-2021-w1800.JPG" width="1200" /></p>

Microsoft experts record an increase in the number of DDoS attacks by 25% between the 4th quarter of 2020 and the first half of 2021

DDoS Attacks on Microsoft Azure | StormWall

<p><em>23 september 2021</em></p>

<h1>Global DDoS Attacks Within Azure Surge</h1>

<p>It is safe to say that the increased Internet activity associated with the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a large wave of DDoS attacks on Azure infrastructure around the world. Microsoft experts record a 25% increase in assaults between Q4 2020 and the first half of 2021. In addition, attacks have increased significantly in volume and complexity. This trend will continue. Thanks to the growing popularity of IoT devices and the big interest in blockchain technologies.</p>

<p><img alt="DDoS attacks within Azure surge" height="700" src="https://content2.stormwall.network/or/articles/articles/global-ddos-2021-w1800.JPG" width="1200" /></p>

<h2>Unprecedented Increase in Activity</h2>

<p>Today it&#39;s hard to imagine a world without digital services. There is a growing reliance on cloud computing. They are important in every field, from healthcare and education to the financial and public sectors. Cybercriminals know this. They are steadily increasing the number of assaults using ransomware. In May, following a DDoS attack on Internet service provider Belnet, the websites of more than 200 organizations were shut down. Among them were Belgian government agencies, as well as educational and research centers.</p>

<p>The Azure DDoS Protection team tries to cope with the growing threat without too many consequences. At the hardest time in a single day, they managed to neutralize an average of 1,392 attacks. The record was set on May 24, 2021, when the team managed to repel 2,043 attacks. The total number of unique attacks on the global infrastructure of Microsoft Azure for the first 6 months of 2021 was 251944. Although the maximum throughput for attacks on Azure resources in 2021 was lower than in 2020, the average attack size increased by 30%. Like last year, short-term attacks dominate the first quarter of 2021. That&#39;s 76% of attacks lasting 30 minutes or less.</p>

<h2>Features of DDos attacks 2021</h2>

<p>DDoS operators do not stop improving their methods. One example is the recycling of IP addresses to launch short serial attacks. In addition, the number of attacks using the Bulk Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) has increased, accounting for 54% of the total. In contrast, attacks using User Datagram Protocol (UDP) decreased to 39%, of which 11% were amplified UDP attacks. More advanced methods allow attackers to attack different companies from the world&#39;s richest countries with impunity. Take a look at the Top 5 regions most popular with hackers.</p>

<ul>
	<li>United States - 59%,</li>
	<li>Europe - 19%,</li>
	<li>East Asia - 6%,</li>
	<li>United Arab Emirates - 4%,</li>
	<li>United Kingdom - 3%.</li>
</ul>

<p>These are the richest countries, where large financial structures and popular gaming hubs are concentrated. Massive TCP flood attacks have targeted financial institutions that rely heavily on TCP. Earlier this year, the epicenter of the attacks was the United Arab Emirates. Public and private organizations from the oil and gas sector were attacked, as were several financial institutions.</p>

<p>Cyber threats are only getting stronger. DDoS is changing and becoming more and more dangerous. For any company, there is a growing need to develop a robust protection strategy. It is important to respond to DDoS attacks promptly to reliably protect your workloads.&nbsp;</p>

One of the Most Powerful Botnets in the History of the Internet Has Been Discovered, Which Allows Launching DDoS Attacks up to 2 Tbit/S

Read also articles: