Analyzing DDoS Attacks and Their Impact on Enterprises: 2023-2024 Case Studies

A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is a widespread and highly destructive type of cyber attack designed to overwhelm a target server with massive amounts of malicious traffic, rendering it unable to provide normal services. Unlike traditional Denial of Service (DoS) attacks that use a single device, DDoS attacks typically rely on multiple controlled devices (often called botnets) spread across the globe, significantly increasing the difficulty of defense and leading to more severe service disruptions.

How do DDoS Attacks Work?

Attackers first control many ordinary users' computers, servers, or Internet of Things devices through various means to form a vast botnet. These controlled devices then send a huge amount of data requests to the target system at the same time, quickly exhausting the target system's bandwidth and resources, causing it to be unable to respond to normal user requests, and ultimately paralyzing the entire system.

Case Analysis of DDoS Attacks From 2023 To 2024

During the period from 2023 to 2024, many well-known enterprises became targets of DDoS attacks. Here are several typical cases:

1. Facebook 

In May 2023, Facebook, the global social media giant, experienced an unprecedented large-scale DDoS attack. Although Facebook has industry-leading security protection systems, the complexity and scale of the attack exceeded expectations, resulting in some services being inaccessible for several hours. The attack not only affected the daily communication of millions of ordinary users but also brought potential economic losses to businesses that rely on Facebook's advertising platform. Facebook quickly took additional protective measures afterward and used advanced artificial intelligence technology to identify possible future threats.

2. Amazon AWS 

At the beginning of 2024, Amazon's AWS cloud service platform experienced a complex DDoS attack. Attackers used multi-level attack techniques, targeting not only individual services but also launching attacks across multiple regions, resulting in brief interruptions of some services in several AWS regions. Although the AWS team quickly initiated emergency response measures and successfully mitigated the main impact of the attack, the incident still exposed some potential vulnerabilities in the existing defense mechanisms. Afterward, AWS invested heavily in upgrading its protection systems and released more detailed security guides to help customers deal with similar threats.

3. GitHub 

As the world's largest code hosting platform, GitHub is often a target of DDoS attacks. At the end of 2023, GitHub experienced another serious DDoS attack that lasted for about two days. Although the platform quickly implemented efficient defense measures, some developers were still unable to access and use the platform for a short time. This attack prompted GitHub to optimize its security strategy further, innovating in defense technology and strengthening cooperation with major global internet service providers to ensure a faster and more effective response to future attacks.

4. Microsoft Azure 

Microsoft's cloud computing platform, Azure, is a core dependency for many enterprises worldwide. In April 2023, Azure became the target of a large-scale DDoS attack, resulting in service interruptions in some regions for several hours. The attack not only affected enterprise customers across various industries but also impacted online systems of public services such as government agencies and educational departments.

5. Twitter 

As one of the world's most famous instant messaging platforms, Twitter experienced a massive DDoS attack at the end of 2023. Although the platform quickly recovered, the brief interruption still affected millions of users, especially the dissemination of real-time news and emergency information. This incident made the public aware of the importance and vulnerability of social media platforms in the information society.

6. Zoom 

In the new normal of work after the pandemic, Zoom has always been under great traffic pressure as a core tool for video conferencing. In May 2024, Zoom experienced an organized DDoS attack, disrupting video conferencing services in some regions. This incident hindered the remote work and teaching of many enterprises and schools, highlighting the necessity of ensuring the stability of remote communication platforms.

What are the Impacts of DDoS Attacks on Enterprises?

1. Economic loss

DDoS attacks can directly cause service interruptions for enterprises, resulting in customers being unable to access normally, leading to revenue loss. In addition, the emergency technical support and repair costs required to respond to the attack are also significant expenses.

2. Damage to brand reputation

Frequent service interruptions can seriously affect user experience, reduce users' trust in the brand, and thereby damage the company's market position and public image.

3. Data security risks

In some cases, DDoS attacks may just be a cover, with the real purpose being to distract attention to carry out other more destructive attacks, such as data breaches or interception.

How to Deal with DDoS Attacks?

To effectively deal with DDoS attacks, enterprises, and organizations can adopt the following strategies:

1. Improve monitoring and early warning capabilities 

Use advanced network monitoring tools to monitor abnormal traffic and potential threats in real-time, achieving early detection and response.

2. Establish redundant systems 

Configuring multiple data centers, load balancing, etc., to distribute traffic, ensuring that a single point of failure does not lead to a complete service outage.

3. Cooperate with professional security service providers 

Utilize professional DDoS protection services to quickly clean malicious traffic and update protection rules to resist new threats.

EdgeOne DDoS Protection

Tencent EdgeOne provides and enables protection against L3/L4 traffic-based DDoS attacks for all connected enterprises. It monitors network traffic in real-time and immediately performs traffic cleaning and filtering upon detecting a DDoS attack.

The default protection specifications of the EdgeOne platform provide basic DDoS protection capabilities and resources for all businesses accessing EdgeOne, offering basic protection for most site operations and daily TCP/UDP applications. On this basis, for businesses that are expected to face a higher risk of severe DDoS attacks, need to maintain long connections, or require customized traffic control strategies, EdgeOne offers exclusive DDoS protection solutions that meet corresponding traffic filtering needs.

Conclusion

DDoS attacks, as an evolving cyber threat, pose a significant challenge to the normal operation of enterprises. By deeply understanding the attack principles and typical cases in recent years, we can more comprehensively recognize this threat and take effective protective measures to ensure the long-term stable operation of enterprises. As DDoS attack methods continue to escalate, enterprise security protection becomes particularly important.

The EdgeOne platform, with its advanced DDoS Protection technology, can monitor and analyze network traffic in real-time, and accurately identify abnormal attack behaviors. Through intelligent defense strategies, it effectively resists various DDoS attacks, ensuring the stability and security of enterprise networks. Choosing EdgeOne allows enterprises to move forward steadily in the complex network environment, fearless of DDoS threats. We have now launched a Free Trial, welcome to Contact Us for more information.