Survey finds DDoS attacks growing in size, and spreading to a diverse variety of victims; Wider array of IT professionals are joining the fight to prevent attacks as spending rises

Key Findings Include:

  • Large DDoS attacks over 50 Gbps have quadrupled between 2015 and 2017
  • Growing number of companies are seeing average DDoS attacks of 1 Tbps or higher
  • Organizations who saw 6 to 25 attacks per year has increased over four times in the last two years
  • The network layer is still the most frequent target, with 29% reporting network level DDoS attacks

SAN JOSE, Calif. – September 21, 2017 – Organizations are experiencing an increase in the magnitude of DDoS attacks, with the average size of attacks over 50 Gbps quadrupling in just two years, according to a report released today from A10 Networks (NYSE: ATEN), a Secure Application Servicesâ„¢ company.

Conducted in partnership with IDG Connect, the study also found the gargantuan 1 Tbps attacks that started last year with the Mirai botnet have begun to leave their mark, with 42% of organizations reporting an average size of DDoS attacks greater than 50 Gbps, a significant increase from 2015, when only 10% of attacks were above that size.

Multi-vector DDoS attacks continue to increase and assault networks and applications at a rapid pace, according to the report, which found the percentage of organizations that experienced between 6 to 25 attacks per year has increased from 14% in 2015 to 57% in 2017.

Other findings from the report include:

Network Layer Still the Primary Target
Even as DDoS attacks are increasingly impacting other areas of the stack such as the application layer, attacks at the network layer are still the most prevalent, with 29% of respondents encountering attacks at the network level.

Downtime is Down
However, DDoS solutions are rising to the challenge, with improved attack mitigation and remediation solutions shrinking the amount of downtime. As DDoS attacks take place, the downtime for organizations has shifted from increments of days to hours. The survey found that in 2017, only 15% of attacks resulted in greater than 25 hours of downtime, compared to 29% in 2015.

DDoS Prevention Budgets Increasing
A significant proportion of organizations are looking to increase their budget allocations for preventative DDoS solutions. 74% of respondents say their DDoS budgets are increasing, compared to 54% two years ago. The amount of overall budgets has also risen, from 22% to 29%.

Breadth of IT Professionals Expanding to Address DDoS Prevention
While IT security teams still top the list in terms of primary responsibility for preventing DDoS attacks, other roles have increased in importance since 2015. A more experienced and wider array of IT professionals are becoming involved in DDoS prevention efforts, such as network administrators, security architects and network architects have increased in importance, indicating an increase in skills and experience across disciplines.

IDG Connect conducted this survey on behalf of A10 Networks to study and understand the digital security landscape. Special attention was paid to the distributed denial of service (DDoS) threats organizations face across industries.

Read more about the report on the A10 Networks blog, “Combating the Siege of Multi-Vector DDoS Attacks.” The full report can be found here.

Learn more about A10’s DDoS protection solutions here, including A10 Thunder TPS, the most powerful DDoS defense solution available on the market. A10 Thunder TPS can detect and mitigate DDoS attacks of all sizes to protect the largest, most-demanding network environments from adversaries who are responsible for the increasing sophistication of DDoS attacks.

About A10 Networks
A10 Networks (NYSE: ATEN) is a Secure Application Servicesâ„¢ company, providing a range of high-performance application networking solutions that help organizations ensure that their data center applications and networks remain highly available, accelerated and secure. Founded in 2004, A10 Networks is based in San Jose, Calif., and serves customers globally with offices worldwide. For more information, visit: a10networkspub.wpenginepowered.com and @A10Networks.

The A10 logo, A10 Networks, A10 Harmony, Thunder and A10 Lightning and Secure Application Services are trademarks or registered trademarks of A10 Networks, Inc. in the United States and other countries.  All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Media ContactKarin GillesDirector of Public Relations[email protected]408-240-5176