Cloudflare: DDoS Attacks on Gambling Companies Are Intensifying  

Gambling operators should beware as DDoS attacks against gambling companies seem to be ramping up. According to Cloudflare, November and December could prove to be very dangerous months for companies in the sector.

According to the web performance and security company, Q3 saw attacks on gambling companies exceed those on cryptocurrency companies. Such attacks usually target HTTP internet infrastructure, damaging companies’ businesses.   

Cloudflare warned that the total number of DDoS attacks continues to increase, highlighting the need for better security measures. According to the cybersecurity company, it singlehandedly prevented a total of 8.9 trillion HTTP DDoS requests in the third quarter of the year. This figure concerningly represents a 65% quarter-on-quarter increase in the number of attacks.

A total of 5% of the attacks were directed toward gambling companies.

Attacks Are Becoming More Prevalent

Cloudflare noted that the breakthroughs in botting technology allow fraudsters to increase their output and launch more and more attacks every minute. In August, Cloudflare’s network was itself targeted by a huge wave of botnet DDoS attacks.

Many of the attacks seem to originate from the United States, according to official Cloudflare data. According to the company, approximately 36% of L3/4 DDoS attacks were launched from within the US. The second and third places are held by Germany and the United Kingdom where 8% and 5% of the attacks originated, respectively.

While almost half of the attacks were launched from America, Germany and Britain, no country is safe from DDoS attacks. The gambling sector was the main target in Europe, the second biggest target in Asia and Latin America and the third most targeted sector in Africa and the Middle East.

North America and Oceania were the only regions where the gambling industry was not among cybercriminals’ top 3 targets.  

Q3 Saw Three Gambling Giants Suffer Cyberattacks

The damage that cybersecurity threats can cause was recently demonstrated by attacks on several gambling giants. The crypto gaming operator Stake.com suffered one of the worst attacks, causing it to lose tens of millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies.

In America, MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment were targeted by cybercriminals. Caesars allegedly paid a ransom. MGM Resorts, meanwhile, struggled with the attack and was forced to temporarily shut down many key systems.

Despite a warning that MGM’s credit score might be lowered, some analysts are very optimistic about the company’s recovery.