Longer, Expanding, Demanding: Botnet DDoS Attacks Highlighted in Kaspersky Lab Quarterly Report

Woburn, MA, August 1, 2017 – Today, Kaspersky Lab is announcing the availability of its latest Q2 2017 DDoS Intelligence Report, which shows proves that long-lasting DDoS attacks are back in business. The longest attack in the quarter was active for 277 hours (more than 11 days) – which is a 131 percent increase compared to Q1 – a current record for the year.

Not only were the duration of DDoS attacks in Q2 notable, the geography of incidents also showed a dramatic change, with organizations with online resources located in 86 countries targeted, compared to 72 countries in Q1. The top 10 most affected countries were China, South Korea, U.S., Hong Kong, U.K., Russia, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada and France — with Italy and the Netherlands replacing Vietnam and Denmark that were among the top targets in Q1.

During this timeframe, the targets of DDoS attacks included one of the largest news agencies, Al Jazeera, Le Monde and Figaro newspaper websites and reportedly, Skype servers. Additionally, an increase in cryptocurrency rates led to cybercriminals trying to manipulate prices through DDoS. Bitfinex, the largest Bitcoin trading exchange, was attacked simultaneously with the launch of trading in a new cryptocurrency called IOTA token. Earlier, the BTC-E exchange reported a slowdown due to a powerful DDoS attack.

The interest of DDoS attack organizers in cash goes beyond manipulating cryptocurrency rates. Using this type of attack to extort money can be beneficial, as trends in Ransom DDoS or RDoS demonstrate. Cybercriminals usually send a message to the victim demanding a ransom that ranges from five to 200 bitcoins. If the company refuses to pay, attackers threaten to organize a DDoS attack on a critically important online victim resource. Such messages can be accompanied by short-term DDoS attacks to confirm the threats are very real. At the end of June, a large-scale RDoS attempt was made by the group called Armada Collective, who demanded about $315,000 from seven South Korean banks.

However, there is always another way which has become more popular in the last quarter – Ransom DDoS with no DDoS at all. Fraudsters send out threatening messages to a large number of companies in the hope that someone will decide to be better safe than sorry. Demonstrations of attacks may never happen, but if just one company decides to pay, that brings profit with minimal effort from the cybercriminals.

“Nowadays, it’s not just experienced teams of hi-tech cybercriminals that can be Ransom DDoS-attackers,” said Kirill Ilganaev, head of Kaspersky DDoS Protection at Kaspersky Lab. “Any fraudster who doesn’t even have the technical knowledge or skill to organize a full-scale DDoS attack can purchase a demonstrative attack for the purpose of extortion. These people are mostly picking unsavvy companies that don’t protect their resources from DDoS in any way and therefore, can be easily convinced to pay ransom with a simple demonstration.”

Kaspersky Lab experts warn that if a victim company decides to pay, it may bring long-term damage in addition to instant monetary loses. A ‘payer’ reputation spreads fast through the networks and may provoke further attacks from other cybercriminals.

_{*The DDoS Intelligence system (part of Kaspersky DDoS Protection) is designed to intercept and analyze commands sent to bots from command and control (C&C) servers, and does not have to wait until user devices are infected or cybercriminal commands are executed in order to gather data. It is important to note that DDoS Intelligence statistics are limited to those botnets that were detected and analyzed by Kaspersky Lab.}

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Kaspersky Lab is a global cybersecurity company celebrating its 20 year anniversary in 2017. Kaspersky Lab’s deep threat intelligence and security expertise is constantly transforming into security solutions and services to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, governments and consumers around the globe. The company’s comprehensive security portfolio includes leading endpoint protection and a number of specialized security solutions and services to fight sophisticated and evolving digital threats. Over 400 million users are protected by Kaspersky Lab technologies and we help 270,000 corporate clients protect what matters most to them. Learn more at www.kaspersky.com.

Media Contact:
Denise Bertrand
781.503.1836
Denise.Bertrand@kaspersky.com