Financial sector sees 117% rise in DDoS attacks in second half of 2024

The total number of distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks increased by 17% in the second half of 2024 compared with the first half. The financial services sector, however, saw the most significant rise in attacks: a jump of 117%.

This new research from Gcore also found that the largest attack peaked at 2 terabits-per-second in Q3-Q4 2024, an 18% increase from Q1-Q2 2024. The gaming industry still remained the most targeted industry, despite a 31% increase in the share of attacks compared with Q1-Q2 2024.

According to Gcore, there are two main reasons attacks on financial services are rising.

First is the criticality of financial services. Gcore said banks provide critical services such as online banking and payment systems. Any disruption causes severe customer dissatisfaction, reputational damage, and potential regulatory fines.

Second, because banks are sensitive to online banking downtime, the financial sector presents a golden opportunity for extortion. Very often, attackers launch DDoS attacks followed by ransom demands.

“DDoS volumes will continue to expand with increases in consumer computing power and internet connection speeds,” said Trey Ford, chief information security officer at Bugcrowd. “These volumes are concerning, but unsurprising.

The recent surge in DDoS attacks highlights the growing aggressiveness of cyber threats, which are increasingly difficult to combat with traditional defenses, said Darren Guccione, co-founder and CEO of Keeper Security. Guccione said cybercriminals are leveraging short, high-intensity bursts to overwhelm systems, particularly in the financial sector.

“Protecting critical assets requires securing access at all levels, not just blocking malicious traffic,” said Guccione. “To effectively counter DDoS threats, businesses must implement network monitoring and regularly analyze network traffic to establish a baseline, enabling them to detect anomalies early. Organizations should consider developing a robust incident response plan, employing DDoS mitigation services and evaluating and potentially increasing bandwidth capacity to effectively mitigate the impact of these attacks.”