Saudi Arabia
Key Metrics from the 2H 2020 NETSCOUT Threat Intelligence Report
As the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a massive shift in internet usage, cybercriminals quickly pounced, launching more than 10 million DDoS attacks aimed at crippling the very online services essential to remote work and online life. Vital pandemic industries such as ecommerce, streaming services, online learning, and healthcare all experienced increased attention from malicious actors, including those behind the Lazarus Bear Armada campaign of DDoS extortion attacks that hit thousands of companies worldwide. As the COVID-19 pandemic extends into 2021, we can logically expect to see threat actors targeting vulnerabilities exposed by the global crisis as well as discovering and using new attack vectors that poke at the weak spots of our new normal.
Impact Analysis
This was a record-breaking year for DDoS attacks—and that has to have an impact on global infrastructure, since DDoS attackers don’t pay for transit costs. Instead, that cost is generally passed down to everyone who uses the internet. So we continued to dig into the details of how much traffic on the global internet is due solely to DDoS attacks by calculating the DDoS Attack Coefficient (DAC). This measurement illustrates the continual presence of DDoS traffic across all regions. In essence, it shows the “DDoS tax” that we all end up paying.
Bandwidth Impact Percentage Change
Throughput Impact Percentage Change
Top Ten Vertical Industries Under Attack
The following industry chart shows the most targeted sectors in 2020 by number of attacks.
| Rank | Vertical | Frequency | Max Attack | Max Impact | Average Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
 Wired Telecommunications Carriers
|
12,099 | 61.4 Gbps | 12.8 Mpps | 22.7 Minutes |
| 2 |
 Data Processing, Hosting + Related Services
|
214 | 12.9 Gbps | 3.4 Mpps | 29.2 Minutes |
| 3 |
 Other Telecommunications
|
70 | 3.2 Gbps | 3.2 Mpps | 95.9 Minutes |
| 4 |
 Scheduled Passenger Air Transportation
|
17 | 2.5 Gbps | 0.2 Mpps | 14.1 Minutes |
| 5 |
 Computer and Office Machine Repair + Maintenance
|
5 | 0.4 Gbps | 0.1 Mpps | 25.6 Minutes |
| 6 |
 Computer Storage Device Manufacturing
|
4 | 2.1 Gbps | 1.6 Mpps | 13.9 Minutes |
| 7 |
 Hotels + Motels
|
2 | 0.2 Gbps | 0.07 Mpps | 255.6 Minutes |
| 8 |
 Wireless Telecommunications Carriers
|
2 | 0.02 Gbps | 0.05 Mpps | 5.4 Minutes |
| 9 |
 Credit Card Issuing
|
1 | 0.002 Gbps | 0.0003 Mpps | 12.7 Minutes |
| 10 |
 Software Publishers
|
1 | 0.007 Gbps | 0.0009 Mpps | 29.9 Minutes |
IoT
Top Five Username + Password Combinations
Top Exploits
| Exploit Name | EDB-ID |
|---|---|
| /ctrlt/DeviceUpgrade_1 Huawei Router | 45991 |
| /picsdesc.xml Realtek SDK Miniigd UPnP SOAP | 37169 |
| /ws/v1/cluster/apps Hadoop YARN ResourceManager | 45025 |
| /setup.cgi Netgear Remote Code Execution | 43055 |