Massive 13.5 Million Device Botnet Powers 2 Terabit Per Second DDoS Attacks on Financial Sector
DDoS Attacks Surge in Size and Complexity
The financial sector, particularly FinTech, has been heavily impacted by distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, according to a recent report from Qrator Labs.
Main Points:
- The largest DDoS attack observed in Q1 2026 targeted a betting industry company, peaking at 2.065 terabits per second.
- Financial institutions and related sectors, especially FinTech, experienced the highest number of incidents, accounting for 44.2% of all cases.
- Average number of blocked bad bot requests reached 2.5 billion per month, a 12% increase over the previous year.
Key Findings:
The report highlights the increasing complexity of DDoS attacks, with multi-vector attacks rising from 8.0% to 10.7% of incidents in the first quarter of 2026.
According to Qrator Labs, “The largest DDoS attack observed in Q1 2026 targeted a company in the betting industry, peaking at 2.065 terabits per second and lasting for 40 minutes.”
The use of a new botnet loader, Aeternum C2, which employs the Polygon blockchain to send commands to infected computers, further complicates the mitigation process.
Bad Bots on the Rise:
The average number of blocked bad bot requests reached 2.5 billion per month, a 12% increase over the previous year. One notable attack on a shopping website lasted for over two weeks, resulting in the blocking of over 178 million malicious requests.
Traditional Defense Strategies:
As attackers employ various methods, such as UDP floods and HTTP-based hits, simultaneously, traditional defense strategies are becoming increasingly ineffective. This trend underscores the need for innovative approaches to stay ahead of the evolving threat landscape.
Conclusion:
As the complexity of DDoS attacks continues to grow, organizations must remain vigilant and proactive in their security efforts.
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