In 2022, distributed denial-of-service attack (DDoS) attackers continued to refine their techniques while increasing the sophistication of their operations, according to Microsoft.

In the first half of 2022, Ukraine was highly affected by DDoS attacks from Russia which later lead to attacks worldwide. The government’s official website and bank domain were highly affected.

Nation-state attackers and hacktivists looking to disrupt Ukraine’s allies heavily target UK financial services with a significant increase in DDoS attacks. These attacks rippled to many other countries too.

New predecessors in town

After several attacks on different countries, the continuously evolving technology gave rise to different techniques and campaigns. 

• Killnet3, a vocal supporter of Russia’s war in Ukraine, uses DDoS attacks as its primary weapon to create chaos across Western government, healthcare, education, and financial sectors.

• Beyond attacks with political motives, DDoS attacks also impacted a wide range of industries. In particular, the gaming industry continued to be highly targeted.

• A new version of RapperBot (heavily inspired by the Mirai botnet) targets game servers running Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas7

• TCP (transmission control protocol) attacks were the most frequent form of DDoS attack encountered in 2022, with combined UDP (user datagram protocol) attacks (UDP flood and UDP amplification) and packet anomaly attacks having a significant presence as well.

What to anticipate in 2024

In 2024, cybercrime will likely continue to rise as new threats and attack techniques emerge. Here are the four biggest DDoS trends Microsoft anticipates: 

• Trend 1: Attackers will use DDoS as distractions to hide more sophisticated attacks (such as data breaches) launched at the same time.
• Trend 2: While not new, internet of things (IoT) DDoS botnet attacks will continue to cause significant disruption.
• Trend 3: We expect to see a rise in DDoS attacks from account takeovers where malicious actors will gain unauthorized access to resources to launch DDoS attacks.
• Trend 4: As geopolitical tensions continue to emerge globally, we will likely continue to see DDoS being used as a primary tool for cyberattacks by hacktivists.

Fighting back DDoS in 2024

In cybersecurity, breaches, and attacks can be countered with a plan in hand. Although sometimes, it is difficult to combat these specialized cyber strikes, we can always prevent them. Here’s how to prevent a DDoS attack:

1. Have multiple servers: The use of multiple servers would confuse a hacker. While connecting to multiple hosting devices allows you to protect devices even if massive malicious traffic hits the server.
2. Detected warning sign: if you experience signs like slow speed, poor connectivity, crashes, and more traffic from a single IP, then wait no more and take action.
3. Training: If you are running an organization, it is important to train your employees about network security threats.
4. Limit network broadcasting: To prevent DDoS try to limit devices that have network plunging, so that only a few devices get affected and others work safely.
5. Ensure high-level network security: You can install anti-virus and malware applications. Firewall intrusion services can also help. Network segmentation can also be performed, or you can use a VPN like PureVPN to prevent DDoS attacks.

Inference to adopt

Cybersecurity threats will always be in your way, and you need to have a plan to combat them. Digital security is your right. To keep your data and system secure, prevention is always a better technique. Denial of access tools like DDoS, and data breach techniques like poodle can hinder you. So, get the right tools for your system and know how to stay secure!

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