AWS Shield Mitigates Largest DDoS Attack in History at 2.3 Tbps
Amazon Web Services (AWS) disclosed that its DDoS protection service, AWS Shield, successfully defended against the largest recorded distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack in February. The attack peaked at 2.3 terabits per second (Tbps), surpassing the previous record of 1.7 Tbps set in 2018 a 44% increase and the highest volume ever observed by AWS.
The assault triggered a three-day "elevated threat" status, though AWS did not specify the target. DDoS attacks overwhelm systems by flooding them with traffic, often using botnets of malware-infected machines that cybercriminals rent cheaply. While AWS Shield and other providers like Cloudflare and Akamai help mitigate such threats, the scale of this attack underscores the growing sophistication of cybercriminal operations.
Cybersecurity expert Lisa Forte of Red Goat Cyber Security called the attack "enormous," comparing it to a "super-car" versus the "moped" of past incidents. The volume equivalent to nearly half of BT’s daily UK network traffic highlights the escalating arms race between attackers and defenders. Despite the attack’s severity, AWS confirmed no major disruptions to its cloud infrastructure, which supports countless websites and services.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53093611
Amazon Web Services (AWS) cybersecurity rating report: https://www.rankiteo.com/company/amazon-web-services
"id": "AMA1780793273",
"linkid": "amazon-web-services",
"type": "Cyber Attack",
"date": "6/2020",
"severity": "100",
"impact": "5",
"explanation": "Attack threatening the organization's existence"{'affected_entities': [{'industry': 'Technology/Cloud Computing',
'name': 'Amazon Web Services (AWS)',
'type': 'Cloud Service Provider'}],
'attack_vector': 'Botnet of malware-infected machines',
'date_detected': '2023-02',
'description': 'Amazon Web Services (AWS) disclosed that its DDoS protection '
'service, AWS Shield, successfully defended against the '
'largest recorded distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack '
'in February. The attack peaked at 2.3 terabits per second '
'(Tbps), surpassing the previous record of 1.7 Tbps set in '
"2018. The assault triggered a three-day 'elevated threat' "
'status, though AWS did not specify the target. DDoS attacks '
'overwhelm systems by flooding them with traffic, often using '
'botnets of malware-infected machines that cybercriminals rent '
'cheaply.',
'impact': {'operational_impact': 'No major disruptions to AWS cloud '
'infrastructure'},
'lessons_learned': 'The attack underscores the growing sophistication of '
'cybercriminal operations and the escalating arms race '
'between attackers and defenders.',
'post_incident_analysis': {'root_causes': 'Botnet of malware-infected '
'machines rented by cybercriminals'},
'references': [{'source': 'AWS Disclosure'},
{'source': 'Lisa Forte, Red Goat Cyber Security'}],
'response': {'containment_measures': 'AWS Shield defense mechanisms',
'incident_response_plan_activated': 'AWS Shield mitigation'},
'title': 'AWS Shield Mitigates Largest DDoS Attack in History at 2.3 Tbps',
'type': 'DDoS'}