Representatives of MTS PJSC toldthat its subsidiary MTS RED successfully repelled the most powerful DDoS attack of the year on the network of the telecom operator MTS. The attack power was 207 Gbit/sec.
The company reports that the incident occurred in the spring of 2024. As mentioned above, according to the MTS RED Anti-DDoS service, the intensity of the attack was 207 Gbit/sec, and at the network edge it could even reach several terabits.
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The attack was carried out from Poland, Turkey, Ecuador, Spain and China, involving more than 20,000 devices targeting more than 500 telecom operator IP addresses. The attack lasted about two hours, but it is emphasized that the response time of the monitoring system of the DDoS protection service “was a matter of minutes.”
At the same time, the key feature of the attack was the attackers’ targeting of specific network equipment (router), and if successful, DDoS would have led to the shutdown of Internet access for MTS users of the entire region. According to the company, this indicates a thorough and systematic preparation of the attack.
“Recently, we have seen signs that the organizers of DDoS attacks are taking a more careful approach to choosing targets, using their knowledge of network technologies to increase the effectiveness of attacks and, above all, relying on their volume and intensity. This means that in order to repel such powerful attacks, it is necessary to improve existing protection mechanisms, competently configure protection rules taking into account the specifics of companies’ activities, and deepen the expertise of teams countering attacks,” comments Dmitry Monakhov, technical director of Anti-DDoS at MTS RED.