DDoS attacks are becoming a weapon of geopolitical conflict
Distributed-Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks saw a 15% increase in the second half of 2023 due to their increased use by hacktivist groups responding to geopolitical issues, a new report of NetScout has claimed.
During a DDoS attack, the perpetrator attempts to overwhelm their target’s servers or network infrastructure by sending an overwhelming amount of Internet traffic, which the network cannot process quickly enough, especially without the best DDoS protection.
DDoS attacks are increasingly used to disrupt government and organizational services in countries involved in regional conflicts, such as those involved in the Russia-Ukraine war and conflicts in the Middle East.
Political incentives over financial gain
To compile its report, NetScout collected DDoS attack data from 214 countries, 456 vertical industries, and more than 13,000 autonomous system numbers. The data shows that more than 7 million attacks occurred in the second half of 2023 alone.
DDoS attacks are the preferred attack method for hacktivist and politically motivated groups due to their relative ease compared to other, more advanced attack methods. Second, these groups seek to disrupt services or events to draw attention to the political or social issues the groups are advocating for.
Poland is a particular example highlighted in the NetScout report, with a large increase in DDoS attacks in the run-up to the parliamentary elections in late 2023 – with many of the attacks taking place in contradiction to the new Polish governments’ support for Ukraine. In another example, following the release of President Alberto Fujimori from prison in Peru, NetScout saw a 30% increase in DDoS attacks within the South American country.
Targeting trends also changed in 2023, with the gaming and gambling industry finding itself in the crosshairs thanks to the large sums of money involved and the disruptions during online eSports and gambling tournaments that not only affected those directly involved, but also for the large audiences drawn to such events. In 2023 alone, there were more than 100,000 DDoS attacks targeting the gaming industry, and 20,500 hit services related to the gambling industry.
“Global adversaries have become increasingly sophisticated over the past year, attacking websites and overloading servers to lock out customers and cause digital chaos to influence geopolitical issues,” said Richard Hummel, senior threat intelligence lead at Netscout.
“The relentless barrage of DDoS threats is driving up costs and creating security fatigue among network operators. They cannot protect their digital assets without the right advanced DDoS protection, using predictive, real-time threat intelligence.”
Among other methods of disruption, DDoS attacks are expected to increase in 2024 due to the number of major elections taking place around the world.