New reflection and amplification attack tools can deliver a powerful punch. Q1 saw a 39 percent increase in average bandwidth and the largest-ever DDoS attack to cross the Prolexic DDoS mitigation network. This attack involved multiple reflection techniques combined with a traditional botnet-based application attack to generate peak traffic of more than 200 Gbps (gigabits per second) and 53.5 Mpps .

This quarter saw more than half of the DDoS attack traffic aimed at the Media and Entertainment industry. This one industry was targeted by 54 percent of the malicious packets mitigated by Prolexic during active DDoS attacks in Q1.

Analysis and emerging trends

Innovation in the DDoS has given rise to tools that can create greater damage with fewer resources. Q1’s high-volume, infrastructure-based attacks were made possible by the availability of easy-to-use DDoS tools from the DDoS-as-a-service. These tools are designed by malicious hackers to deliver greater power and convenience into the hands of less skillful attackers.

For example, in Q1, NTP reflection attacks surged, likely due to the availability of easy-to-use DDoS attack tools that support this reflection technique. The NTP flood method went from accounting for less than 1 percent of all attacks in the prior quarter to reaching nearly the same popularity as SYN flood attacks, a perennial favorite among DDoS attackers. Neither CHARGEN nor NTP attack vectors were detected in Q1 2013 but accounted for 23 percent of all infrastructure attacks mitigated by Prolexic in Q1 2014.
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