DDoS cyberattacks up 43 percent during Q4 2013, new report says

Security company Akamai found an uptick in DDoS attacks during Q4 2013, as the cost of attacks continues to plummet

There was an upswing in distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks during the fourth quarter of 2013, according to Akamai, in its "State of the Internet Report." Its customers reported 1,153 DDoS attacks in 2013, a 50 percent increase year-over-year - and a notable 23 percent increase from Q3 to Q4 last year.

Cybercriminals are able to launch DDoS attacks against major targets with little overhead, and overall ability to compromise servers makes DDoS a very notable attack method.

Enterprise and commerce continued to be the industries targeted most frequently by the reported DDoS attacks in the fourth quarter, at 159 and 82 attacks, respectively," Akamai said in a press release. "Together, they account for just under 70% of the reported attacks during the quarter, while slightly less than half of the total attacks were reported by customers in the Americas."