Last weekend, Cloudflare was the target of a massive DDoS attack. In fact, it was the worst cyber attack the Internet company has ever experienced. At its peak, it received more than 71 million requests per second (rps).
Cloudflare (1) confirms the DDoS attack in a statement.
In a Distributed Denial-of-Service Attack or DDoS attack (2), computer networks and servers are bombarded with large amounts of connection requests and data requests. ICT systems have to handle so much Internet traffic that sooner or later they can no longer cope. Websites are then no longer able to load, or loading takes an incredibly long time.
Cloudflare, a major U.S. Internet company that provides hosting and a Content Delivery Network (CDN), detected dozens of DDoS attacks last weekend. The company managed to repel many of these attacks. The lion's share of the attacks received between 50 and 70 million requests per second. At its peak, Cloudflare received over 71 million connection requests.
The Internet company says this is the largest DDoS attack in its history of existence. The previous record dates back to July 2022. Back then, the company had to deal with 46 million requests per second.
Cloudflare shares few details about the attack. What it does reveal is that these were HTTP/2 attacks in which connection requests came from more than 30,000 different IP addresses (3). According to Cloudflare, websites for a popular gaming provider, cryptocurrency companies, hosting providers and cloud (4) computing platforms were targeted by the perpetrators. "The attacks came from several cloud providers and we are working with them to address the botnet (5)," the Internet company said in a press statement.
Cloudflare suspects that the DDoS attacks have nothing to do with the Super Bowl, which took place last weekend. Nor would there be a link to the Killnet (6) cyber attacks on hospitals and healthcare facilities. The attackers used other methods of attack for these.
According to Cloudflare, the number and size of DDoS attacks have been increasing for years. The number of DDoS attacks increased 79 percent last year. The size increased 67 percent in one year to over 100 Gbps. The number of DDoS attacks that lasted more than three hours increased 87 percent.
When a DDoS attack brings down your business operations, it causes a lot of misery in addition to financial damage. There are a number of things you can do to protect yourself from DDoS attacks. One time-tested method is to block specific IP addresses. This is what the PvdA did when the party's website was attacked from abroad (7) by a "targeted DDoS attack.
A Virtual Private Network or VPN (8) can also help you protect your personal network from a DDoS attack. This is because a VPN encrypts your Internet traffic and hides your IP address. If hackers do not know your IP address, it is impossible to target you for a DDoS attack. Finally, it is advisable to protect your hardware from viruses and other malware (9). Installing good antivirus software (10) makes it a lot harder for cybercriminals to add your device to a botnet.
https://blog.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-mitigates-record-breaking-71-million-request-per-second-ddos-attack/
https://www.vpngids.nl/veilig-internet/cybercrime/wat-is-een-ddos-aanval/
https://www.vpngids.nl/privacy/anoniem-browsen/wat-is-mijn-ip/
https://www.vpngids.nl/veilig-internet/cloud-backups/hoe-veilig-is-cloud/
https://www.vpngids.nl/veilig-internet/cybercrime/wat-is-een-botnet/
https://www.vpngids.nl/nieuws/kamer-bezorgd-over-ddos-aanvallen-op-umcg/
https://www.vpngids.nl/nieuws/pvda-doelwit-van-gerichte-ddos-aanval-vanuit-het-buitenland/
https://www.vpngids.nl/vpn-info/wat-is-een-vpn/
https://www.vpngids.nl/veilig-internet/malware/
https://www.vpngids.nl/antivirus/beste-antivirus/
