After an "abnormal" spike in Q2, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks in the third quarter of this year fell 73 per cent compared to the previous quarter, according to data from cybersecurity firm Kaspersky.
DDoS attacks are used to disable the targeted organisation's online presence or key business processes. On an average, 106 attacks per day were carried out in Q3, while there were 10 more in the previous quarter, showed data from Kaspersky DDoS Protection on Wednesday.
Nevertheless, while things have been quieter - there were three days when only one attack was registered.
The most noticeable was July 2 which saw a record-breaking 323 attacks, the highest number for the whole of 2020 so far, Kaspersky said. The previous peak was 298 attacks, registered back in April.
Despite the overall stabilisation of the DDoS market during the year, the quarter still saw a year-on-year rise, said the report. Compared to the same period in 2019, this figure has seen a one-and-a-half times year-on-year increase.
This means that the decline observed during Q3 can mostly be explained by the abnormal rise of attacks in the second quarter.
As COVID-related lockdowns increased users' reliance on online services, so in the first two quarters of the year there was a spike of DDoS attacks aimed at disrupting their work.
Educational and administrative resources were hit particularly hard. However, Q3 results showed that DDoS activity is returning to normal.
"Many companies were not prepared for remote working or did not consider their web assets as critical. For instance, we had several requests from organisations, such as mask manufacturers, that fell victim to DDoS attacks," Alexey Kiselev, Business Development Manager on the Kaspersky DDoS Protection team, said in a statement.
"Previously, these businesses did not even think about DDoS protection. The situation is improving as more businesses have managed to strengthen their cyber-defences to mitigate this security weakness."
To stay protected against DDoS attacks, Kaspersky experts recommended that organisations should maintain web resources operations by assigning specialists who understand how to respond to DDoS attacks.
It is also important to validate third-party agreements and contact information, including those made with Internet service providers. Implementing professional solutions to safeguard the organisation against DDoS attacks could also be helpful.
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