DDoS Attacks Surge 106% from H2 2023 to H1 2024, Reveals New Zayo Data

Report highlights the alarming need for businesses to strengthen defenses as AI fuels cyber threats

BOULDER, Colo., August 15, 2024  – Zayo Group, a leading global communications infrastructure provider, today released its bi-annual Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Insights Report, which found the company observed a 106% increase in attack frequency from H2 2023. The report also found that an average DDoS attack now lasts 45 minutes—an 18% increase from this time last year—costing unprotected organizations approximately $270,000 per attack at an average rate of $6,000 per minute.

It takes very little time, expertise, or investment to run a DDoS attack, and with the AI boom, bot-based attacks have made it even easier to attack more often, in a more sustained manner, and with more requests per second. Beyond intensifying frequency and duration, AI is also driving the increased pervasiveness of DDoS attacks across many industries. In fact, for the first time in this report’s history, HR and staffing, legal and consulting, and transportation firms surfaced as victims of the top 10% of the largest DDoS attacks seen. 

“As we predicted last year, DDoS attacks in the age of AI have become more persistent and frequent across all industries, and our latest report confirms this heightened level as the new norm. What’s worse, if this trend continues, we expect attacks could increase another 24% by the end of the year,” said Max Clauson, SVP of Network Connectivity at Zayo. “The only way to fight back is to add protection to your tech stack. When your business is protected, attackers have no other option but to move on to find an easier target.”

Key Findings by Industry: 

• Telecommunications companies are still the most targeted industry, making up 57% of all attacks. Other familiar industries experiencing the most frequent attacks include education (19%), manufacturing (5%), and cloud/SaaS (5%). 
• Manufacturing has replaced retail as the industry facing the largest DDoS attacks, followed by healthcare (up 128.5% compared to H1 2023). Not only did this industry experience a 308% increase in attack duration from 2023 to 2024, these companies also suffered a 200% increase in DDoS attack size.
• Government entities continued to be the victims of the longest-duration attacks, with an average attack time of over six hours. This is up 41% from the H1 2023.

Why it Matters. For nearly 30 years, DDoS attacks have been effective and the introduction of AI to deploy and elevate these attacks is only allowing them to evolve, growing more powerful, subversive, and frequent. Every business must understand that it is a target, regardless of industry or size. The financial and reputational damage caused by DDoS attacks can be devastating, leading to significant revenue losses and long-term harm to brand trust. Additionally, the cost of mitigating attacks and restoring services is substantial, draining resources that could be better spent on growth and innovation. The only fighting chance businesses have is to implement a proper network protection strategy.

To view the full report and learn more about how Zayo can help protect your business from cyber attacks, visit: https://www.zayo.com/resources/ddos-insights-report-1H-2024/. 

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Methodology

This report analyzed more than 62,000 threat detections experienced by Zayo DDoS Protection customers in H1 2024. The data, spanning 14 industries in regions across North America and Western Europe, covers the period from January 1 to June 30, 2024. Notably, approximately 29,000 of these attacks occurred in the first quarter of 2024, and approximately 34,200 occurred in the second quarter. 

About Zayo

For more than 17 years, Zayo has empowered some of the world’s largest and most innovative companies to connect what’s next for their business. The Zayo group of companies connects 400 global markets with a future-ready network that spans over 18 million fiber miles and 145,000 route miles. Zayo’s tailored connectivity solutions and managed services enable carriers, cloud providers, data centers, schools, and enterprises to deliver exceptional experiences, from core to cloud to edge. Discover how Zayo connects what’s next at www.zayo.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.