The new report warns that as more and more cybercriminals learn about the potential of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, the popularity of such tactics is growing exponentially.
Research by StormWall shows that in just 12 months, the number of DDoS attacks increased by 90%, and telecommunications companies experienced almost half (43.2%) of all incidents, and also experienced a sevenfold increase compared to Q3 2021.
StormWall speculates that Covid-19 is to blame because the pandemic has pushed most people into a remote work environment, meaning companies have relied on telecommunications services to steer critical business processes like never before. Cybercriminals are well aware of this and want to hit the companies where it hurts the most, as they carry out ransomware attacks, data theft, identity theft, attacks on corporate e-mail and other forms of malicious activity.
Attacks on entertainment are diminishing as people leave their homes
Entertainment was the second most frequently attacked industry, accounting for more than a fifth (21.8%) of all attacks. This has increased the most – 18 times – compared to Q3 2021. Even so, the share of attacks against the industry is slowly declining, says StormWall, attributing it to declining online content consumption (opens in a new tab)after the easing of blockages around the world.
With 16.3% of all attacks, fintech ranks third. The number of attacks here has increased 9 times in the last 12 months, with politically motivated cybercriminals pursuing Russian financial firms being the most frequent. This can, of course, be attributed to the Russo-Ukrainian war.
Of all the attacks analyzed by StormWall, almost three-quarters (73%) took place at the application layer, while 19% were packet floods targeting the network and transport layers of the OIS model.
“We have seen an unusually high number of attacks by politically motivated actors who have set fire to the telecommunications sector and reduced the incidence of incidents in the entertainment industry,” commented Ramil Khantimirov, CEO and co-founder of StormWall. “Most of the attacks took place in the first two months of the quarter, suggesting a quiet period, but it will be temporary. Hactivists are unlikely to stop, and have also developed DDoS tools that are now in the hands of all actors. We should prepare ourselves for the difficult fourth quarter ”.