Radware 2024 Report

Malicious Web Application and API Transactions Rise 171% Driven by Layer 7 Web DDoS Attacks

• DDoS attacks per customer nearly double
• Web DDoS attacks relentlessly continue throughout the year
• DNS query flood vectors increase more than three fold
• Government, business/economy, and travel websites face the most hacktivist claimed DDoS attacks worldwide

MAHWAH, N.J., Feb. 29, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Radware (NASDAQ: RDWR), a leading provider of cyber security and application delivery solutions, released its 2024 Global Threat Analysis Report.

“The technological race between good and bad actors has never been more intense,” said Pascal Geenens, Radware’s director of threat intelligence. “With advancements like Generative AI, inexperienced threat actors are becoming more proficient and skilled attackers more emboldened. In 2024, look for attack numbers to climb and attack patterns, like the shift in Web DDoS attacks, to continue to evolve.”

Radware’s comprehensive report leverages intelligence provided by network and application attack activity sourced from Radware’s Cloud and Managed Services, Global Deception Network, and threat intelligence research team during 2023. In addition, it draws from information found on Telegram, a public messaging platform often used by cybercriminals.

Radware’s report reveals key themes about the emerging threat landscape.

DDoS Attacks Surge Unprosecuted
“With almost two years of illegal denial of service left unprosecuted following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the unfettered rise of hacktivism, the threshold into a life of cybercrime has reached a new low,” said Geenens. “We have yet to see DDoS attacks used as a mainstream vehicle to settle disagreements or differences, but plenty of groundwork has been laid by proficient hacktivists.”

Between the close of 2022 and 2023 DDoS attacks rose worldwide:

• Globally, the average number of DDoS attacks per customer grew by 94%. On a regional basis, the increase in the number of DDoS attacks targeting customers varied:
  • EMEA rose 43%        
  • The Americas grew 196%
  • APAC climbed 260%        
• The Americas were targeted by almost half of all global DDoS attacks. The EMEA region, accounting for 39% of the DDoS attacks, mitigated 65% of the global DDoS attack volume. The APAC region accounted for almost 12% of global DDoS attacks.