In the first quarter of 2024, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks surged in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA), making it the most targeted region, surpassing North America. This rise in attacks has been consistent in EMEA since 2019, attributed in part to ongoing conflicts such as the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Hamas conflict. Conversely, North America has seen a significant decline in DDoS attack volumes since 2023.
The United Kingdom bears the brunt of these attacks, experiencing over a quarter of all DDoS incidents in the EMEA region since 2019, followed by Saudi Arabia and Germany. Notably, more than half of all DDoS attacks in the financial services sector target EMEA-based entities, with North America being the second most targeted region in this sector.
The report underscores the prevalence of DDoS attacks targeting the Domain Name System (DNS), often employing multiple attack vectors simultaneously to maximize impact. Moreover, the emergence of services like DDoS boosters, available at low costs, further lowers the entry barrier for attackers, exacerbating the threat landscape.
Global conflicts, particularly the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars, have fueled the surge in DDoS activity in EMEA, with politically motivated hacktivists and nation-state sponsored actors leveraging cyber-attacks as a tool. As high-profile events approach, such as the UK and EU elections and summer sports events, organizations are urged to fortify their digital defenses to mitigate the escalating DDoS threat.
