New data shows that although distributed denial of service assaults are a rising concern worldwide, they are having a disproportionately negative effect on European businesses.

The amount of distributed denial of service (DDoS) assaults on financial businesses is said to have climbed by almost a quarter (22%) year on year, according to a research from the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) and Akamai.

Researchers looked at the time period between November 2021 and November 2022 and discovered that the number of distributed denial of service (DDoS) assaults increased by about three-quarters(73%) in Europe alone. Roughly half of all DDoS attacks in Europe during this time period were directed against financial institutions.

Conspiracy theories and criminal hacking

To launch a DDoS attack, hackers send a flood of fake requests to the targeted website’s server until it either crashes or becomes so overloaded that it can no longer serve its real users.

DDoS attacks need a network of compromised computers, or a botnet, to flood a target with fake traffic requests. Usually, malware infection is the method of choice for criminals to add a new device to the botnet. Devices as diverse as smart speakers and routers may be co-opted into the network.

Attackers may sometimes demand money in exchange for ending a distributed denial of service attack. Sometimes they use it as a diversion while they launch a more damaging assault while the IT crew is busy blocking fake visitors. A distributed denial of service attack is one of the most common methods used by hackers.