DDoS Attacks By Hacktivist Tend To Zero, Professional Group In Action

The number of DDoS attacks by professionals is increasing (photo: Kaspersky)

JAKARTA - Kaspersky found that Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks carried out mainly by professionals increased consistently in the third quarter of 2022.

The number of attacks designed to stop websites from functioning normally or disrupt them during this period has more than doubled compared to the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the number of attacks by hacker groups (hacktivist) which was very prominent in the first two quarters of this year, almost disappeared in the third quarter of 2022.

When compared to Q3 2021, the overall number of DDoS attacks was up 47.87 percent, while the number of smart, or sophisticated and professionally executed attacks, doubled.

Comparison of the number of DDoS attacks: Q3 2022 and Q3 2021 and Q2 2022

Although hacktivists were quite passionate and prolific in their DDoS efforts during the first half of 2022, in Q3 they turned to other malicious activities. In Q3, the number of hacktivist DDoS attacks tended to zero.

Meanwhile, the number of high-quality professional attacks, remains at the top level. The target also shows a change, namely targeting the financial sector and government.

These two facts reinforce the idea that, from this spring until at least the end of September, professionals worked against the mentioned sectors, as reflected in Kaspersky statistics.

“Since late February, we have been observing and thwarting an unusually high number of attacks from amateur hacktivists. However, the number of attacks of this kind gradually decreased and by the end of Q3 had returned to normal levels,” said Alexander Gutnikov, security expert at Kaspersky in a report received in Jakarta.

In terms of the duration of a DDoS attack, there is no new record. On average, attacks last about eight hours, with the longest at just under four days. Compared to the previous quarter, this figure looks a bit small, but is actually still very large.