Throughout the year, metrics were collected from all DDoS attacks launched against the company's global client base by the Prolexic Security Engineering & Response Team (PLXsert) using proprietary techniques and equipment. Through digital forensics and post-attack analysis, PLXsert is able to build a global view of the evolving DDoS threat.

"It was a dynamic 12 months for DDoS attacks," said Stuart Scholly, president of Prolexic. "The tools used by malicious actors in 2013 and the tactics they adopted changed considerably, reflecting the on-going evolution of the DDoS threat."

Top 10 ddos attack trends for 2013:

1. DDoS attack volume continued to rise with Prolexic mitigating 32.43 percent more attacks in 2013 than it did in 20122. DDoS attack volume also increased month-to-month in 2013, with 10 out of 12 months showing higher attack volume compared to 20123. Smaller, stealthy and more sophisticated application layer (Layer 7) attacks increased approximately 42 percent4. High bandwidth, volumetric infrastructure layer (Layer 3 & 4) attacks increased approximately 30 percent5. DNS, UDP, and UDP fragmentation floods, as well as CHARGEN, were the attack vectors that showed the most adoption in 20136. SYN and ICMP floods were the attack vectors that showed the most decline in use7. Average DDoS attack sizes continued to increase with Prolexic mitigating numerous attacks over 100 Gbps, the largest peaking at 179 Gbps8. Reflected amplification attacks emerged as a very popular attack method 9. Mobile devices and apps began participating in DDoS campaigns10. DDoS attacks were more likely to originate from Asian countries

"It is critical in 2014 that enterprise defenses continue to keep pace with the changing DDoS threat," said Scholly. "In addition to increasing vigilance and knowledge, enterprises should also validate services from any mitigation providers they have retained to ensure the latest threats can be blocked quickly and effectively."

Prolexic has published a new infographic that summarizes the top 10 DDoS attack trends for 2013, which is available at www.prolexic.com/2013-ddos-trends. For a more detailed analysis of the current DDoS threat landscape, download Prolexic's Q4 2013 Global DDoS Attack Report and the Q4 2013 DDoS Attack Report infographic, which were published last week.

About Prolexic

Prolexic is the world's largest, most trusted Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) mitigation provider. Able to absorb the largest and most complex attacks ever launched, Prolexic restores mission-critical Internet-facing infrastructures for global enterprises and government agencies within minutes. Ten of the world's largest banks and the leading companies in e-Commerce, SaaS, payment processing, travel/hospitality, gaming, energy and other at-risk industries rely on Prolexic to protect their businesses. Founded in 2003 as the world's first in-the-cloud DDoS mitigation platform, Prolexic is headquartered in Hollywood, Florida, and has scrubbing centers located in the Americas, Europe and Asia. To learn more about how Prolexic can stop DDoS attacks and protect your business, please visit www.prolexic.com, follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+, YouTube, and @Prolexic on Twitter.