Why DDoS Attacks Surged 203% in H1 2022: Insights from Radware Report

According to Radware’s latest report, the number of malicious DDoS attacks in the first half of 2022 increased by 203% compared with the same period in 2021.

DDoS attacks surge

The volume of malicious DDoS attacks grew 203% year‑over‑year.

Malicious DDoS events in the first half of 2022 were 60% higher than the entire year of 2021.

In May 2022, Radware mitigated a massive carpet‑bombing attack delivering 2.9 PB of traffic, lasting 36 hours with a peak of 1.5 Tbps and sustained rates over 700 Gbps, making it one of the largest recorded DDoS attacks.

Patriotic hacker activity spikes

Pro‑Ukraine and pro‑Russia cyber militias intensified information theft, leakage, and denial‑of‑service attacks.

Groups such as DragonForce Malaysia, OpsBedil Reloaded, and OpsPatuk launched politically motivated operations against various nations.

DDoS attacks linked to the 2022 Philippine election targeted major media and communication outlets including CNN, ABS‑CBN, Rappler, and VERA Files.

The report warns that no organization is immune to cyber retaliation, and new large‑scale actors could increase unpredictability and misattribution, potentially escalating cyber conflict.

RDoS ransomware services resurge

A group claiming to be REvil launched a new RDoS campaign in H1 2022, embedding ransom notes in the payload.

In May 2022, Radware identified ransom letters from a group masquerading as Phantom Squad.

Retail and high‑tech sectors most targeted

Malicious web‑application transactions rose 38% in H1 2022 versus the same period in 2021, surpassing 2020 levels.

Predictable resource‑location attacks accounted for 48% of all attacks, followed by code injection (17%) and SQL injection (10%).

The most attacked industries were retail and wholesale trade (27%) and high‑tech (26%); telecom operators and SaaS providers ranked third and fourth with 14% and 7% respectively.