Microsoft unintentionally set a new record as it mitigated a 3.47 Tbps DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack last November.
In a blog post, the Redmond giant shared the Azure DDoS protection data for Q3 2021. The company noted that it saw an increase in the amount of DDoS attacks in the second half of 2021. With attack services being available for cheap, DDoS is a popular attack method that can be used by anyone.
In second half of 2021, Microsoft mitigated an average of 1,955 attacks per day, a 40% increase from the first half. However, that pales in comparison with the 4,296 attacks that were mitigated on August 10, 2021. In total, the company managed to protect its users from over 359,713 unique attacks in the second half of 2021. While doing so, Microsoft also set a new record as it defended Azure servers against a DDoS attack with a throughput of 3.47 Tbps and a packet rate of 340 million packets per second (pps). The attack originated from over 10,000 sources, spanning globally and included countries such as the United States, China, South Korea, Russia, Thailand, India, Vietnam, Iran, Indonesia, and Taiwan.
Furthermore, the company also saw two more attacks in December with a throughput upwards of 2.5 Tbps, both of which were again in Asia. Microsoft also noted that there is a huge uprise in DDoS attack in East Asia, including Hong Kong and India. This has largely to do with the rise in gaming, especially in countries such as Hong Kong, and South Korea. Meanwhile, the rise in digital adoption in India has increased "the region’s overall exposure to cyber risks".
While, Microsoft now holds the record for mitigating the largest DDoS attack, it is important to note the other major DDoS attacks in the recent past. These includes the 2017 attack mitigated by Google's Security Reliability team with a throughput of 2.54Tpbs and the 2020 attack on Amazon's Web Service with a throughput of 2.3Tbps.
2 Comments - Add comment