Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks orchestrated by hacktivist groups have minor impact on organizations they target, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said in a private industry notice released last week.
“Coinciding with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the FBI is aware of Pro-Russian hacktivist groups employing DDoS attacks to target critical infrastructure companies with limited success. Hacktivists provide tools and guidance on cyber attack methodology and techniques to anyone willing to conduct an attack on behalf of their cause. DDoS attacks of public facing websites, along with web page and social media profile defacement, are a preferred tactic for many operations,” the FBI said, noting that these attacks are generally opportunistic in nature, and with DDoS mitigation steps, have minimal operational impact on services they target.
Hacktivists, however, tend to exaggerate the scope and impact of their attacks on social media.
“As a result, the psychological impact of DDoS attacks is often greater than the disruption of service,” the FBI said.
Such groups usually target high-profile or critical infrastructure organizations like financial institutions, emergency services, airports, and government, health, and medical facilities.
In one of the most recent incidents, the Pro-Russia hacking gang Killnet targeted multiple US airports in a series of DDoS attacks, but with no success.
Last week, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) released a joint guide to help organizations prevent or reduce the impact of distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks.