State of the Internet - Security Report - Q4 2015
The Q4 2015 report provides analysis and insight into the global cloud security threat landscape
Compared to the same period a year ago, q4 2015 saw a 149% increase in total DDoS attacks and a 169% increase in infrastructure layer (layers 3 & 4) attacks. The average duration of attacks this quarter was 14.95 hours, a nearly 50% drop from the 29.3 hours we saw in q4 2014. Average peak bandwidth dropped 22% over the same period last year, and average peak volume dropped 47%.
What you need to know
- Stresser/booter-based botnets were the source of the vast majority of DDoS attacks observed by Akamai. These tools rely heavily upon reflection techniques to fuel their traffic.
- For the first time, Turkey has appeared as a top attack source, based on all indicators that Akamai uses to measure DDoS attacks.
- Repeat DDoS attacks were the norm, with an average of 24 attacks per targeted customer in Q4. Three targets were subject to more than 100 attacks each; one customer suffered 188 attacks – more than two per day for the quarter.
- 56% of all DDoS attacks mitigated in Q4 2015 were multi-vectored.
- China was the top country sourcing DDoS attacks, while the US was the top country sourcing web application attacks.
- The gaming sector was most frequently hit by DDoS attacks, while the retail sector was most frequently targeted in web application attacks.
DDoS attacks, Q4 2015 vs. Q4 2014
- 148.85% increase in total DDoS attacks
- 168.82% increase in infrastructure layer
- (layers 3 & 4) attacks
- 49.03% decrease in the average attack duration:
- 14.95 vs. 29.33 hours
- 44.44% decrease in attacks > 100 Gbps: 5 vs. 9
DDoS attacks, Q4 2015 vs. Q3 2015
- 39.89% increase in total DDoS attacks
- 42.38% increase in infrastructure layer
- (layers 3 & 4) attacks
- 20.74% decrease in the average attack duration:
- 14.95 vs. 18.86 hours
- 37.5% decrease in attacks > 100 Gbps: 5 vs. 8
Web application attacks, Q4 2015 vs. Q3 2015
- 28.10% increase in total web application attacks
- 28.65% increase in web application
- attacks over HTTP
- 24.05% increase in web application
- attacks over HTTPS
- 12.19% increase in SQLi attacks
Download the report
A complimentary copy of the Q3 2015 State of the Internet - Security Report is available as a free PDF download at
https://www.stateoftheinternet.com/resources-cloud-security-2015-Q4-web-security-report.html