Pierluigi Paganini December 05, 2023

ENISA published the ENISA Threat Landscape for DoS Attacks report to bring new insights to the DoS threat landscape.

Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks pose a persistent and significant security risk for organizations. Over the past few years, threat actors have increasingly had access to cost-effective and efficient means and services to carry out such kinds of attacks. The ongoing global conflicts have fueled waves of DoS attacks, with emerging threat groups selectively targeting various entities.

The ENISA Threat Landscape for DoS Attacks report aims to provide precious insights into the DoS threat landscape. It analyses the motivations and impacts of DoS attacks, it also aims at supporting organizations in enhancing their defenses in case of an attack.

The insights presented herein result from a thorough mapping and analysis of DoS incidents spanning from January 2022 to August 2023.

DoS attacks affect all sectors, government services are consistently the most targeted. These sectors appear to be chosen repeatedly as the primary focus of DoS attacks, primarily driven by retaliatory motives against political actions and statements.

Below are the main highlights of the report:

• A novel classification scheme to categorise DoS attacks based on information about the attacks and the targets, allowing a more systematic analysis approach.
• An analysis of DoS attacks’ motivations and goals as part of the proposed classification, making it possible to analyse not only the technical evolution of the attacks but also the changes in the roots of what triggers the attacks in the first place.
• An analysis of a total of 310 verified DoS incidents – from January 2022 to August 2023. This is not the total number of incidents during that period, however.
• The most affected sector was the public administration sector, receiving 46 % of attacks.
• It is estimated that 66 % of the attacks were motivated by political reasons or activist agendas.
• Overall, 50 % of the incidents were found to be related to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
• The study shows that 56.8 % of the attacks caused total disruption in the target.
• This report also highlights the importance of cyber as a force multiplier or supporting vector in warfare, the changes that this brings to the landscape, and that it is vital that organisations prepare prevention and remediation strategies. Furthermore, this report raises awareness of the lack of maturity when it comes to reporting DoS attacks, which have not reached the same level as other types of cybersecurity threats.

Enjoy the ENISA Threat Landscape for DoS Attacks available here

https://www.enisa.europa.eu/publications/enisa-threat-landscape-for-dos-attacks/@@download/fullReport

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, ENISA Threat Landscape for DoS Attacks)