After collecting data from all Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks launched against their client base, Prolexic Technologies revealed the top attack trends for 2013, building a global view of the evolving DDoS threat.

“It was a dynamic 12 months for DDoS attacks,” said Stuart Scholly, president of Prolexic. “The tools used by malicious actors in 2013 and the tactics they adopted changed considerably, reflecting the on-going evolution of the DDoS threat.”

According to Prolexic's data, 10 identifiable trends for DDoS top the list.

DDoS attack volume continued to rise with Prolexic mitigating 32.43% more attacks in 2013 than it did in 2012
DDoS attack volume also increased month-to-month in 2013, with 10 out of 12 months showing higher attack volume compared to 2012
Smaller, stealthy and more sophisticated application layer (Layer 7) attacks increased approximately 42%
High bandwidth, volumetric infrastructure layer (Layer 3 & 4) attacks increased approximately 30%
DNS, UDP, and UDP fragmentation floods, as well as CHARGEN, were the attack vectors that showed the most adoption in 2013
SYN and ICMP floods were the attack vectors that showed the most decline in use
Average DDoS attack sizes continued to increase with Prolexic mitigating numerous attacks over 100 Gbps, the largest peaking at 179 Gbps
Reflected amplification attacks emerged as a very popular attack method
Mobile devices and apps began participating in DDoS campaigns
DDoS attacks were more likely to originate from Asian countries

“It is critical in 2014 that enterprise defenses continue to keep pace with the changing DDoS threat,” Scholly said. “In addition to increasing vigilance and knowledge, enterprises should also validate services from any mitigation providers they have retained to ensure the latest threats can be blocked quickly and effectively.”

Special Reports /

Top 10 Denial of Service Attack Trends

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