Kaspersky Lab reveals that in Q1 2021, the number of DDoS attacks dropped by 29 percent compared to the same period in 2020, but increased by 47 percent compared to Q4 2020
In its recent studies, Russia’s Kaspersky Lab says that in Q1 2021, the number of DDoS attacks dropped by 29 percent compared to the same period in 2020, but increased by 47 percent compared to Q4 2020. According to data from Kaspersky DDoS Prevention, this growth is explained by an unusual spike in January – that month accounted for 43 percent of all attacks in the quarter – while the other two months remained quiet.
At the beginning of 2021, many people were still working remotely and spending their leisure time at home. Therefore, cybercriminals conducted DDoS attacks against entities that users need more, for example, telecom providers, so that their clients experienced issues with their internet connection, or online gaming sites. Nevertheless, despite the remaining attention on such resources, statistics show the overall DDoS situation is becoming stable.
Alexey Kiselev, Business Development Manager, Kaspersky DDoS Protection Team, said, “In general, the first quarter of 2021 was rather quiet, apart from surge in DDo Sactivity in January. That surge might be caused by a fall in crypto currency prices that made some malefactors repurpose infected devices in botnets to send junk traffic instead of mining currency. So, despite an overall decline in Q1, we recommend protecting web resources from DDoS attacks. Because, as we can see, cyber criminals driven by financial motives can easily change their tactics depending on the circumstances”.
Kaspersky experts explain the drop in attacks compared to the same quarter of the last year by the abnormal activity at the beginning of 2020. Because of sudden shift to remote work, corporate VPN gateways and web resources, such as mail or corporate knowledge bases, which were previously available only inside an organization, became a target for DDoS attacks. Within the year, businesses mostly implemented protection for these parts ofIT infrastructure. Given this, attacks against these web assets may have become less effective, and the number of DDoS attacks dropped. So, by February and March 2021 the number of attacks returned back to a pre-lockdown benchmark.
Chris Connell, Managing Director, Kaspersky (APAC), remarked, “A reduction in the number of DDoS attacks is definitely good news for companies, however it shouldn’t mean that they can relax their security efforts. A DDoS attack is still a serious threat to businesses, especially in APAC, but an increase in corporate awareness coupled with Internet security software enhancements can help reduce the sheer number of attacks”.
Safety recommendations
- Maintain web resource operations by assigning specialists who understand how to respond to DDoS attacks
- Validate third-party agreements and contact information, including those made with internet service providers. This helps teams quickly access agreements in case of an attack
- Implement professional solutions to safeguard your organization against DDoS attacks. For example, Kaspersky DDoS Protection combines Kaspersky’s extensive expertise in combating cyber threats and the company’s unique in-house developments
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