Lumen research reveals latest DDoS stats and costs

Attackers will find new resources to leverage. Cybercriminals and defenders are constantly maneuvering to stay one step ahead. In 2022, attackers began leveraging cloud-based, virtual services in ways never seen before. We anticipate they will look for similar new attack methods in 2023.

Expansion of the victim pool. Large organizations continue to fortify their defenses, so we believe attackers might begin targeting small- and mid-size businesses. These organizations typically have fewer cyber defenses, but they still have critical data and applications that could attract criminals.

Timing is intentional. While DDoS attacks have become ubiquitous with certain days like Cyber Monday, data from the Lumen DDoS mitigation service reveal the most popular week for DDoS attacks in 2021 and 2022 were the days surrounding the July 4 holiday in the United States. Lumen predicts attackers will coordinate attacks to coincide with holidays and culturally significant events throughout 2023.

Online motions account for $500 million of total revenue.

The company has a small IT team with two employees dedicated to fixing security issues.

On average, security-related incidents generate 25 customer support calls per hour.

Nearly 90% of all DDoS attacks in Q4 were potentially "hit and run" style. These attacks last 30 minutes or less, and threat actors frequently use them to probe a target's defenses before launching a larger, sustained attack.

Domain Name System (DNS) is an essential service, and the number of DNS amplification attacks increased 73% quarter over quarter.

Lumen mitigated 22% more DDoS attacks in 2022 than in 2021.

The largest attack Lumen mitigated in 2022 was 1.06Tbps. It occurred in Q2 2022 and was also the largest DDoS attack Lumen has mitigated to-date.