Second quarter sees declining DDoS attacks

Distributed denial-of-service attack prevalence in the second quarter of 2021 dropped by 6.5%, compared with the first quarter, and 38.8%, compared with the same period last year, according to a Kaspersky study reported by TechRepublic. However, the decline in DDoS attacks during the second quarter is common during the period and is not indicative of a real decrease in DDoS instances, said Alexey Kiselev, DDoS protection team business development manager at Kaspersky. Kiselev added that cryptocurrency prices, which have been consistently elevated, are key in determining DDoS attacks in the succeeding quarters. "[I]n the third quarter of 2021, we also do not see any prerequisites for a sharp rise or fall in the DDoS attack market," Kiselev said. Meanwhile, Kaspersky said that cybercriminals may be utilizing the new DDoS attack vectors leveraging the Session Traversal Utilities for Network Address Translation protocol and the TsuNAME DNS vulnerability. More cybercrime groups are also leveraging DDoS attacks in ransomware attacks, according to Kaspersky, which cited the Fancy Lazarus group and Avaddon ransomware.