47 percent more DDoS attacks in the first quarter of 2021. The increase in January is likely due to the fall in the price of cryptocurrencies. Number of DDoS attacks back to pre-lockdown level according to the Kaspersky DDoS Protection Team.
In the first quarter of 2021, the number of DDoS attacks fell by 29 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, but increased by 2020 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 47. The increase is due to an unusually high volume in January. 43 percent of all DDoS attacks during the quarter were recorded there. This high corresponds to a simultaneous drop in prices for cryptocurrencies, which presumably also influenced the strategy of cybercriminal actors. These results are based on the latest DDoS report from Kaspersky.
Current DDoS report from Kaspersky
At the beginning of this year, many people were still working in the home office and spent most of their free time at home. Cyber criminals took advantage of this fact and, with their DDoS attacks, therefore primarily targeted the Internet resources used for this purpose, including providers of telecommunications services and online games. Nevertheless, the figures show a general stabilization in terms of DDoS attacks.
Kaspersky experts explain the current decline compared to the same quarter of the previous year with the extraordinarily high activity at the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020 The sudden move to the home office made VPN gateways and access to resources previously only used at work such as e-mails and company-owned Databases targeted by DDoS attacks. However, as the past year progressed, most companies began to better protect their IT infrastructure, making DDoS attacks less lucrative for cyber criminals. Accordingly, in February and March 2021, their numbers fell to pre-pandemic levels.
Price of cryptocurrencies parallel to attacks
The numbers of the Kaspersky DDoS Intelligence System, which intercepts and analyzes commands between bots and their command-and-control servers (C&C), show a noticeable interim high in January 2021. On January 10 and 11, 2021, more than 1.800 attacks were measured and on numerous other January days the 1.500 mark was exceeded.
“The first quarter of 2021 was rather quiet, although there was a boost in DDoS activity in January,” explains Alexey Kiselev, Business Development Manager at Kaspersky DDoS Protection Team. “The reason for the January peak was probably the collapse in cryptocurrency prices, which probably diverted the focus of cybercriminals to the use of infected devices in botnets. They then preferred sending junk to mining cryptocurrencies. Despite the overall decline in the first quarter, we continue to recommend protecting Internet resources from DDoS attacks. Because as we have now seen, the cybercriminals, driven by financial gain, can easily adapt their tactics to the given circumstances.”
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