June 21, 2025 ☼ Zettelkasten ☼ Automated Post
Screenshot of Record DDoS pummels site with once-unimaginable 7.3Tbps of junk traffic - Ars Technica
Cloudflare, the Internet security and performance provider, reported the largest attack yet, coming in at 7.3 terabits per second (Tbps) on Friday. Equivalent to 37.4 terabytes of junk traffic, the assault lasted a mere 45 seconds, roughly the same as streaming 9,300 full-length HD films or 7,500 hours of HD content in under a minute. The target, identified only as a Cloudflare client, was “carpet bombed” with into approximately 22,000 different ports of a solitary IP address, with 34,500 ports targeted in total.
The bulk of the attack used the User Datagram Protocol (UDP), which, unlike the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), transmits data without establishing a secure connection. Implemented in time-sensitive actions such as video playback and gaming applications, UDP can flood the targeted server without obtaining the server’s consent. A tiny proportion of the attack, around 0.004 percent, was carried out as reflection attacks that send malicious traffic via third-party intermediaries. Servers’ administrator should secure their systems against such attacks. The attack was amplified through vectors such as the Network Time Portal and the Quote of the Day Protocol and utilized one or more botnets based on Mirai. DDoS attacks have steadily increased over the past three decades, the last one peaking at 6.3 Tbps.
#CyberAttack #Cloudflare #DDoS #UDP #InternetSecurity