Lumen research reveals a rise in sophisticated, complex DDoS attacks in Q1 2023 April 25, 2023
1. whois
Notable Findings: Complex Attacks on the Rise Domain Name System (DNS) water torture attacks Twenty six percent of all single-vector attacks in Q1 utilized DNS amplification – a 417% increase over the same quarter last year. Of these, a sophisticated form of DNS amplification known as a "DNS water torture attack" was the most common. DNS water torture is a complex attack vector designed to overwhelm the resources of an authoritative DNS server and prevent it from responding to valid DNS queries. A comprehensive DDoS mitigation solution is necessary to defend against DNS water torture attacks. Complex, multi-vector mitigations Multi-vector attacks are not new, and threat actors deploy different combinations of vectors because they are more difficult to mitigate. In Q1, Lumen mitigated an attack that utilized a record six different vectors including DNS Amplification, ICMP, TCP RST, TCP SYN/ACK Amplification and UDP amplification. Because each vector targets specific ports, protocols and systems, these complex attacks are significantly more difficult to mitigate.