Blog.Cloudflare Surge in Short-Burst DDoS Attacks in Q3 2026
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- •Short-burst DDoS attacks increased by 208% in Q3 2026.
- •Hyper-volumetric attacks over 1 Tbps dropped by 69% due to law enforcement actions.
- •The United States reclaimed its position as the most attacked country.
Cloudflare's DDoS Threat Report for Q3 2026 reveals a significant increase in short-burst, low-bandwidth DDoS attacks, which surged by 208% compared to the same quarter in 2025. These attacks predominantly targeted industries such as consumer services, gambling, and IT, with 96% lasting under 10 minutes and 98% remaining below 1 Gbps. In contrast, hyper-volumetric attacks exceeding 1 Tbps dropped by nearly 69%, likely due to law enforcement actions against major IoT botnets earlier in the year. The United States became the most attacked country, followed by Canada and Israel, amidst ongoing geopolitical tensions. Cloudflare mitigated 18.2 million network-layer DDoS attacks in this quarter, averaging approximately 8,226 attacks per hour. The report indicates a shift in attack methods, with a notable decline in CLDAP floods and a rise in DNS amplification and UDP floods.
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