Cyber Defense eMagazine February Edition for 2023

2023 DDoS Attack Predictions
By Matthew Andriani, Founder and CEO, MazeBolt
DDoS attacks remain a major threat to enterprises, as attacks continue to grow in frequency and
sophistication. The DDoS attack surface is constantly expanding: the dynamic nature of cloud
environments and the workflows that accompany them makes it easier for threat actors to bypass
mitigation controls and launch attacks that severely impact an organization's uptime. On average, 60%
of businesses lose over $120,000, and 15% of the business – well over $1 million and some over $3
billion in market CAP losses, for very short intermittent DDoS attacks. Below are key trends we’ve noticed
in 2022 that are anticipated for 2023.
Prediction 1: DDoS attack havoc will increase.
From the ‘Overwatch 2’ gaming DDoS attack to the attack on Russia’s second-largest VTB bank, 2022
saw a variety of organizations suffering temporary outages. Heading into 2023, we will most likely see
continued growth in DDoS attacks. A Cisco report predicts the total number of DDoS attacks will reach
over 15 million by 2023, leaving organizations and customer data vulnerable. The proliferation of DDoSas-a-service
subscriptions which, per the Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2022, can cost as little as 500
USD, makes it easier for threat actors to anonymously launch devastating attacks and disrupt businesses’
uptime. Although governments are already taking down DDoS-as-a-service operators, it’s a drop in the
ocean, and most likely new sites will pop up. Unless organizations achieve true visibility into their dynamic
DDoS attack surface and build DDoS resilience through vulnerability closure, this whack-a-mole game
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