Record DDoS Attack in Europe: 1.5 Billion Packets per Second from Hijacked IoT Devices and MikroTik Routers

Record DDoS Attack Stopped in Europe

FastNetMon says it stopped one of the largest DDoS attacks ever seen in Europe, measured by packet rate. At its peak, the attack hit 1.5 billion packets per second (1.5 Gpps). That volume would put heavy strain on any network infrastructure.

Where the Attack Came From: Compromised IoT Devices and Routers

The attack came from thousands of compromised IoT devices and MikroTik routers spread across more than 11,000 networks worldwide. Its target was a DDoS scrubbing provider, a company that filters malicious traffic so its customers stay online during attacks like this one.

Part of the defense was deploying access control lists (ACLs) on edge routers.

A Growing Threat

FastNetMon founder Pavel Odintsov warned that attackers are increasingly using consumer hardware at massive scale to launch DDoS attacks, and that the threat is getting worse. He urged internet service providers (ISPs) to filter traffic in their own networks to help prevent similar incidents in the future.

The attack was disclosed just days after Cloudflare said it had blocked an even larger DDoS attack, which peaked at 11.5 Tbps and 5.1 Bpps.

DDoS attacks are just one part of a broader cyber threat landscape in Poland. Read more about why Poland is the second most frequently attacked country in the world and about Russian cyberattacks on Polish infrastructure.