Radware has released its 2025 Global Threat Analysis report. In it, the firm claims that last year saw a noticeable surge in Web Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, mostly thanks to AI lowering the security barrier. Radware’s latest report is based on the intelligence provided by 2024 network and app attack activity from its cloud and managed services and the threat intelligence research team. Furthermore, the report included information found on Telegram, an insanely popular messaging platform among cyber threat actors.
Financial and transportation sectors witnessed a massive surge in Web DDoS attacks due to AI advancements
According to Radware’s report, financial institutions and transportation services witnessed an almost 400% increase in DDoS attack volume in 2024. Telecommunication bore 43% of the global network DDoS attack volume last year. Financial institutions followed the communication sector at 30%. Notably, the finance sector experienced the highest growth in attack volume per organization. Attacks increased 393% year-over-year.
Furthermore, the report claims that the DDoS attacks on transportation and logistics were up by 375%, followed by the e-commerce platforms at 238% and service providers at 237% year-over-year.
The EMEA markets were the primary target of DDoS attacks in 2024
Radware’s latest security analysis report also suggests that the average duration of network DDoS attacks increased 37% in 2024 compared to 2023. Also, the Layer 7 Web DDoS attacks escalated significantly due to advancements in the field of AI tech. The report claims that “hacktivist groups motivated by geopolitical conflicts and facilitated by easy accessibility to more sophisticated tools” mostly link to the Layer 7 attacks.
As per the source, the EMEA region remained the primary target of the DDoS attacks, accounting for 78% of global incidents. Notably, organizations in Europe faced the highest proportion of DDoS activity, accounting for 45%. North America followed Europe with a share of 21%.
Apart from the duration, the volume of network DDoS attacks has also increased 120% compared to 2023. That said, the report clearly suggests that both government and private organizations operating in a dynamic environment require equally dynamic defense strategies against DDoS attacks more than ever.
