https://blog.cloudflare.com/how-cloudflare-auto-mitigated-world-record-3-8-tbps-ddos-attack
Cloudflare has disclosed its mitigation of the largest distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on record, which peaked at 3.8 terabits per second (Tbps) and lasted for 65 seconds. This hyper-volumetric Layer 3/4 DDoS attack targeted multiple industries, including financial services, telecommunications, and the Internet sector.
The attack, part of a broader surge of over 100 high-volume attacks throughout September, utilized compromised devices and botnets, with traffic originating from countries including Vietnam, Russia, Brazil, Spain, and the U.S. A significant source of the attacks was a botnet of compromised ASUS routers, exploiting a critical vulnerability (CVE-2024-3080), according to Cloudflare.
The attack highlights the ongoing trend of increasingly sophisticated and powerful DDoS campaigns, often targeting critical infrastructure and leveraging emerging vulnerabilities. Cloudflare noted that the goal of these attacks is to exhaust network bandwidth and processing capacity, rendering services inaccessible to legitimate users.
The previous record for the largest DDoS attack was 3.47 Tbps, mitigated by Microsoft Azure in 2021. As attacks continue to rise, security firms like NETSCOUT have noted a 55% increase in such activity over the past four years, largely driven by hacktivist operations.
Cloudflare emphasized the need for robust defense mechanisms capable of handling high-bandwidth attacks while preserving CPU resources to ensure normal traffic processing.