Of the 1,000 largest distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, attacks mitigated by Lumen Technologies offerings in the 4th quarter of 2023, nearly 70% were aimed at the government, according to a report issued by the cybersecurity company.
The same report indicated that 2023 Q4 saw a 163% quarterly increase in DDoS attacks against the government and a more than 4,000% increase year over year, Lumen said Thursday.
The company presented these figures in its Quarterly DDoS & Application Threat Report for Q4 2023. The data is taken from Lumen’s DDoS mitigation platform and from computer security provider ThreatX, Lumen’s application protection partner.
According to Lumen Vice President of Product, Cybersecurity and AI Sharada Achanta, the possession of sensitive data makes the government “a prime target for cyberattacks” by actors who aim to spy, extort or cause disruptions.
Achanta went on to tout the capabilities of her company’s products, noting, “Lumen’s threat intelligence and DDoS mitigation, powered by AI and machine learning, offer customers a distinctive and comprehensive cybersecurity solution.”