A new report reveals carpet bomb distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks increased 300% in 2022. Carpet bomb attacks, also known as spread-spectrum or spray attacks, distribute traffic across large IP address spaces, challenging standard victim-oriented detection and mitigation techniques.

The annual DDoS Threat Intelligence Report, released by Corero Network Security, examines attack vectors, sizes and attacker tools and techniques. It emphasizes the need for proactive DDoS protection due to the evolving threat landscape.

The report, which utilizes data and observations from attacks against Corero customers between January and December of 2022, shows that DDoS protection continues to be a multifaceted challenge for organizations.

"We are continuing to see significant changes in the global DDoS attack landscape, with increased attack volume, frequency and variation,” said Ashley Stephenson, CTO, Corero Network Security. “The exponential rise of 'carpet bomb' attacks presents a triple threat as they evade, neutralize or overload traditional DDoS protections."

According to the report, 75% of DDOS attacks last less than 10 minutes however there was a 60% increase in DDOS attacks that last more than 60 minutes. 

Other key report highlights include:

• 300% increase in carpet bomb attacks in 2022 compared to 2021. 
• Mirai-like DDoS attacks have also increased with more than seven times as many attacks in 2022 than 2021.
• There were twice as many DDoS attacks targeting Domain Name System (DNS) services in 2022 than in 2020.