Kaspersky says that Linux-Based DDoS Attacks are Increasing

As per the new released report by Kaspersky Lab, cybercriminals are increasingly using Linux-based botnets to launch DDoS attacks.

Out of all the DDoS attacks, 45.6% of attacks are from Linux-based botnets, as per the Intelligence Report of Kaspersky for the period Q3 2015. Security researchers of Akamai Technologies discovered that XOR DDoS botnet is the prominent most group, which was used to launch 150+ gigabit-per-second (Gbps) DDoS attacks.

During Q3 2015, there was more activity by "DD4BC", a cybercriminal group, responsible for numerous attacks on major banking organizations all over the world. Since the month of September, this group is targeting banks, gaming companies and media groups; threatening to take down websites of their customers unless they pay a ransom amount.

The owner of the targeted resource is asked to pay between 25 and 200 bitcoins ($6,500 -$52,500); otherwise their server will be disabled. Organizations in New Zealand, Australia and Switzerland are some of the first victims, while the important financial institutions of Hong Kong received a warning. The Bank of East Asia and the Bank of China informed that, they are also targeted by illegal activity.

Notifications from cybercriminals are also received by many financial institutions of Russia during the third quarter, asking for a precise amount in cryptocurrency to terminate an attack.

Moreover, according to Kaspersky, the foremost DDoS attacks all over the world is received by China (i.e. 35%), followed by United States and South Korea receiving 21% and 18% of attacks, respectively. There is 7.9% rise in DDoS attacks in South Korea from the last quarter.

The longest ever DDoS attack lasting 320 continuous hours was also recorded in the three month period, which was just little less than a fortnight-long assault.

Previously, Nexusguard, a defense firm of DDoS, mentioned that DDoS defense in Australia is a grey area in cybersecurity with businesses and cloud providers managing the responsibility of eliminating the vulnerability.

ZDNet published news on 4th November, 2015, quoting Bill Barry, Global Strategy Vice President of Nexusguard, as saying "our chief scientist just set up a honeypot project recently; Australia alone had more than 30 targeted attacks in seven days which is pretty significant. Australia ranks in the top 10 for targeted countries which is quite high according to per capita basis".

» SPAMfighter News - 11/12/2015