NETSCOUT SYSTEMS, INC has released its latest research detailing the evolving Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack landscape.

NETSCOUT reportedly monitored more than 8 million DDoS attacks globally in the first half of 2025, including more than 3.2 million in EMEA.

Evolving DDoS attacks

The company has articulated that DDoS attacks have evolved into precision-guided weapons of geopolitical influence capable of destabilising critical infrastructure.

Hacktivist groups like NoName057(16) reportedly orchestrated hundreds of coordinated strikes each month, targeting the communications, transportation, energy and defence sectors.

DDoS-for-hire services have reportedly democratised attack tools, enabling novice actors to execute sophisticated attack campaigns.

AI-enhanced automation

According to NETSCOUT, AI-enhanced automation, multi-vector attacks and carpet-bombing techniques challenge traditional defences.

Botnets reportedly compromised tens of thousands of IoT devices, servers and routers, delivering sustained attacks and causing significant disruption.

The company has articulated that whilst each of these elements is dangerous on its own, in aggregate, they have formed the perfect storm, creating unprecedented cyber risk for organisations and service provider networks around the world.

NETSCOUT’s key research findings include:

• Massive global attack volume – NETSCOUT observed more than 50 attacks greater than a terabit-per-second (Tbps) and multiple gigapacket-per-second (Gpps) attacks in the first half of 2025, including a 3.12 Tbps attack in the Netherlands and a 1.5 Gpps attack in the United States
• Geopolitical events triggered unprecedented attacks – The India-Pakistan conflict saw hacktivist groups target the Indian government and financial sectors in May, while the Iran-Israel conflict generated more than 15,000 attacks against Iran and 279 against Israel in June
• Botnet-driven attacks gained sophistication – More than 880 bot-driven attacks occurred daily in March, peaking at 1,600 incidents, with attack durations increasing to an average of 18 minutes
• New threat actors emerged – Leveraging DDoS-for-hire infrastructure, DieNet orchestrated over 60 attacks since March, while Keymous+ launched 73 attacks across 28 industry sectors in 23 countries
• NoName057(16) maintained dominance – Claiming more than 475 attacks in March alone, 337 percent more than the next most active group, the hacktivist group targeted government websites in Spain, Taiwan and Ukraine

Traditional defences are no longer sufficient

Richard Hummel, Director, Threat Intelligence, NETSCOUT stated: “As hacktivist groups leverage more automation, shared infrastructure and evolving tactics, organisations must recognise that traditional defences are no longer sufficient.

“The integration of AI assistants and the use of large language models (LLMs), such as WormGPT and FraudGPT, escalates that concern.

“And while the recent takedown of NoName057(16) was successful in temporarily reducing the group’s DDoS botnet activities, preventing a future return to the top DDoS hacktivist threat is not guaranteed.

“Organisations need intelligence-driven, proven DDoS defences that can deal with the sophisticated attacks we see today.”

Compromised devices

NETSCOUT is said to map the DDoS landscape through passive, active and reactive vantage points, providing unparalleled visibility into global attack trends.

NETSCOUT allegedly protects two-thirds of the routed IPv4 space, securing network edges that carried global peak traffic of over 800 Tbps in 1H2025.

The company reportedly monitors tens of thousands of daily DDoS attacks by tracking multiple botnets and DDoS-for-hire services that leverage millions of abused or compromised devices.