Majority of DDoS Attacks are Short, Low-Volume Bursts

Short, low-volume DDoS attacks still account for the majority of slam sessions against networks, but large-volume attacks posted a 55% spike in the first quarter over the previous quarter, according to a report released today by Corero Network Security.

During the first quarter, small-volume attacks of less than 10 Gbps against Corero's customers accounted for 98% of the attacks. And in 71% of cases against these users, the attacks lasted 10 minutes or less. Although these attacks were small and low volume, they carried the potential to knock a firewall or intrusion prevention system offline to allow attackers to engage in malicious activity.

But despite small, low-volume attacks accounting for nearly all of the DDoS barrages on these users, the number of high-volume attacks of more than 10 Gbps soared in the first quarter. The report also found that 22% of the DDoS attacks lasted 20 minutes or longer.

On average, these users encountered 124 DDoS attacks per month in the first quarter, an increase of 9% over the previous quarter, according to the report.

Read more about the report here.