Cloudflare DDoS Trends Report for Q4 2023

This document is a report detailing the trends and statistics related to Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks observed in the fourth quarter of 2023. It outlines a significant increase in network-layer DDoS attacks, with an 85% rise compared to the previous year, while HTTP DDoS attacks saw a 20% decrease. The report highlights specific geopolitical events, such as the Taiwan general election and the Israel-Hamas conflict, which have been linked to increased cyber attack activity. It provides data on the number of attacks mitigated, noting that over 5.2 million HTTP DDoS attacks were thwarted, alongside 8.7 million network-layer attacks. The report also discusses emerging attack vectors and trends, including a notable rise in ACK-RST floods and CLDAP floods. Additionally, it examines the impact of global events, such as the United Nations Climate Change Conference, on cyber attack frequency, indicating a correlation between significant political events and spikes in DDoS activity.