CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 22, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Akamai
Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM), the leading provider of cloud
services for delivering, optimizing and securing online content and
business applications, today announced availability of the
Prolexic Q2 2014 Global DDoS Attack Report. Prolexic
Technologies, now part of Akamai, is a recognized leader in
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) protection services, and has
produced the quarterly Global DDoS Attack Report since 2011. The
report, which provides analysis and insight into the global DDoS
threat landscape, can be downloaded at
www.prolexic.com/attackreports.
"DDoS attacks have continued in high numbers and with high
average and peak bandwidths. They can take out an entire data
center by overwhelming network bandwidth," said Stuart Scholly, senior vice president and
general manager of Security at Akamai Technologies. "Behind these
powerful attacks are changing tactics to build, deploy and conceal
powerful botnets. Server-side botnets are preying on web
vulnerabilities and reflection and amplification tactics are
allowing attackers to do more with less."
When building server-side botnets, attackers have been targeting
Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
vendors with server instances running software with known
vulnerabilities, such as versions of the Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP
(LAMP) stack and Microsoft Windows server operating systems. They
have also targeted vulnerable versions of common web Content
Management Systems (CMS) such as WordPress and Joomla or their
plugins.
While the use of server-based botnets has increased, the
itsoknoproblembro (Brobot) botnet, also based on server
infection, has remained a threat. Attacks in the second quarter of
2014 provided indications that the botnet is still in place from
its earlier use in the Operation Ababil attacks against financial
institutions in 2011-2013. Once thought to have been cleaned up, it
appears the botnet has been surreptitiously maintained.
Reflection and amplification attacks were more popular in the
second quarter of 2014 as compared to the same period in 2013,
representing more than 15 percent of all infrastructure attacks.
These attacks take advantage of the functionality of common
Internet protocols and misconfigured servers. While the use
of NTP reflection attacks was down significantly in the second
quarter of 2014, likely due to community cleanup work, SNMP
reflector attacks surged during the quarter, filling the void.
Highlights from Prolexic's Q2 2014 Global DDoS Attack
Report:
Compared to the second quarter of 2013
- 22 percent increase in total DDoS attacks
- 72 percent increase in average attack bandwidth
- 46 percent increase in infrastructure (Layer 3 and 4)
attacks
- 54 percent decrease in average attack duration: 38 vs. 17
hours
- 241 percent increase in average peak bandwidth
Compared to the first quarter of 2014
- 0.2 percent decrease in total DDoS attacks
- 14 percent decrease in average attack bandwidth
- 15 percent decrease in application (Layer 7) attacks
- 0.2 percent decrease in average attack duration: 17.38 vs.
17.35 hours
- 36 percent decrease in average peak bandwidth
Analysis and emerging trends
Attacks involving server-side botnets have only been observed by
Akamai in the most sophisticated and carefully orchestrated DDoS
campaigns. Their high-volume infrastructure attacks have had
signatures that appear to be specially crafted to avoid detection
by DDoS mitigation technology. Because of the effectiveness of
these attacks, and the widespread availability of vulnerable
cloud-based software, they are likely to continue and may be
monetized in the underground DDoS marketplace. They potentially
pose a significant danger to businesses, governments and other
organizations.
These DDoS trends and more are discussed in detail in Prolexic's
Q2 2014 Global DDoS Attack Report. A complimentary copy is
available as a free PDF download at
www.prolexic.com/attackreports.
Akamai and Prolexic DDoS attack reports to be merged
Akamai completed its acquisition of Prolexic in February 2014. Prolexic's Global DDoS Attack
Report and Akamai's State of the Internet Report both
cover DDoS attacks and related trends and statistics. In the coming
quarters, we expect to consolidate these publications with the goal
of publishing a combined report that delivers an unparalleled level
of insight into the Internet threat landscape. Follow @akamai_soti
on Twitter for more information.
About Akamai
Akamai® is the leading provider of cloud services for
delivering, optimizing and securing online content and business
applications. At the core of the Company's solutions is the Akamai
Intelligent Platform™ providing extensive reach, coupled with
unmatched reliability, security, visibility and expertise. Akamai
removes the complexities of connecting the increasingly mobile
world, supporting 24/7 consumer demand, and enabling enterprises to
securely leverage the cloud. To learn more about how Akamai is
accelerating the pace of innovation in a hyperconnected world,
please visit www.akamai.com or blogs.akamai.com, and follow @Akamai
on Twitter.
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Contacts:
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Rob Morton
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Tom Barth
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Media
Relations
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Investor
Relations
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617-444-3641
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617-274-7130
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rmorton@akamai.com
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tbarth@akamai.com
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SOURCE Akamai Technologies, Inc.