FS-ISAC and Akamai Report Highlights Increase in DDoS Attacks in APAC Region

FS-ISAC, the global cyber intelligence sharing community for financial services, in collaboration with cybersecurity and cloud services provider Akamai Technologies, has released a new report indicating a substantial rise in distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

APAC Financial Services See 245% Rise in DDoS Activity

Titled From Nuisance to Strategic Threat: DDoS Attacks Against the Financial Sector (2025), the report reveals that financial institutions in APAC were the primary targets of Layer 3 and Layer 4 volumetric DDoS attacks in 2024, accounting for 38% of global attack volume. This marks a 245% increase from 11% in 2023, reflecting a sharp escalation in threat activity aimed at the region’s financial sector.

The findings indicate that the financial services industry in APAC is increasingly being targeted as cybercriminals respond to the sector’s rapid digital adoption. These attacks pose a growing risk to operational continuity, customer service availability, and trust in digital platforms, as attackers seek to disrupt core services and exploit vulnerabilities in high-traffic environments.

The report underscores the need for proactive mitigation strategies as DDoS attacks evolve from short-term disruptions into persistent and strategic threats within critical financial infrastructure across the APAC region.

“DDoS attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated, evolving from simple network flooding to targeted, multi-dimensional assaults that exploit intricate vulnerabilities across the entire supply chain,” said Teresa Walsh, FS-ISAC’s Chief Intelligence Officer and Managing Director, EMEA. “As threat tactics continue to evolve — including those impacting APAC’s increasingly digital financial systems — we must ensure our technical defenses evolve and our people, tools, and processes work seamlessly together. It is critical that we harden our infrastructure and foster a culture of continuous vigilance and collaboration to protect continuity and customer trust.”

Key Regional Insights: DDoS Activity Intensifies Across APAC Financial Institutions

The FS-ISAC and Akamai report outlines several region-specific findings that highlight the evolving nature of DDoS threats targeting financial services in the Asia-Pacific region.

Persistent Campaigns Across Six Countries

• In Q4 2024, more than 20 financial institutions across six APAC countries experienced sustained DDoS campaigns.

• These campaigns appeared to originate from a common threat actor or coordinated hacker group, based on attack patterns and timing.
  
  

Shift Toward Continuous and Targeted Attacks

• While individual attack volumes were not exceptionally large, the campaigns were marked by persistent and continuous activity.

• This sustained attack behaviour represents a notable shift in DDoS tactics not previously observed in APAC at this scale.

Broader Impact Across Financial Services Segments

• The Q4 2024 DDoS activity targeted a wide range of financial services, including retail banking, payment processors, investment firms, and government-linked financial entities

Application-Layer Attacks on the Rise

• There was a significant increase in Layer 7 (application-level) DDoS attacks across APAC, with financial institutions being the primary target.

• The growth in these attacks correlates with greater API adoption, which has expanded the attack surface for malicious actors.
  
  

Contributing Factors

• The report attributes the escalation of attacks to several key drivers:

  • Rising geopolitical tensions across the region and globally

  • Increased accessibility to DDoS-for-Hire platforms, enabling a wider range of actors to execute attacks with minimal technical expertise
    
    

These findings suggest a shift in the threat landscape, where financial services in APAC are facing more strategic, sustained, and multi-layered DDoS campaigns, reinforcing the need for enhanced preparedness and coordinated cyber defence efforts.

“DDoS attacks in APAC are no longer blunt-force attempts but sophisticated multi-vector campaigns that exploit vulnerable systems and exposed APIs,” said Reuben Koh, Director of Security Technology & Strategy, APJ at Akamai. “As highly coveted target sectors like financial services, commerce, and manufacturing accelerate digital growth, these continuous attacks pose growing operational and reputational risks, and organisations must work with trusted cybersecurity partners who can provide the intelligence, scalability, and agility needed to defend themselves in today’s threat landscape.

Global Parallels Highlight Financial Services as Primary DDoS Target

The surge in DDoS attacks observed in Asia-Pacific aligns with broader global trends. According to the report From Nuisance to Strategic Threat: DDoS Attacks Against the Financial Sector, financial services remained the most targeted industry for volumetric Layer 3 and 4 DDoS attacks in 2024, accounting for 37% of global activity. This was followed by the gaming sector at 20% and manufacturing at 17%.

For the second consecutive year, the financial sector was the only industry to register a significant year-on-year increase in DDoS attacks, underscoring its continued vulnerability.

The report links the increase in attack frequency to heightened geopolitical tensions, including ongoing conflicts such as Israel-Hamas and Russia-Ukraine, which have fueled a wave of ideologically driven hacktivism.

Attribution is increasingly complex, as the boundaries blur between DDoS-for-Hire operators, hacktivist groups, and state-affiliated attackers. This overlap presents challenges for defenders trying to differentiate between financially motivated and politically driven campaigns.

Evolving Security Strategy: Implementing a Maturity-Based Approach

To address the rising threat, the report recommends that financial institutions adopt the DDoS Maturity Model, jointly developed by FS-ISAC and Akamai. This framework enables organizations to assess and benchmark their preparedness, and to define clear investment priorities based on their current capabilities.

Key Strategic Recommendations

Organizations are encouraged to:

• Implement real-time behavioural analytics and traffic baselining to detect anomalies early

• Automate threat detection and mitigation using intelligence-led inputs

• Harden DNS and API security through regular testing and configuration reviews

• Apply geo-IP filtering to limit exposure from high-risk regions

The report includes regional threat intelligence, profiles of active hacktivist groups, and practical cyber hygiene measures aimed at strengthening resilience. By aligning with the DDoS Maturity Model, financial institutions can better map their posture against evolving threat scenarios and ensure readiness against increasingly strategic DDoS campaigns.

Read More:

Challenges of Indian System Integrators: Adapting to Survive and Thrive

Check Point's India Channel Strategy for Cybersecurity Growth

New Relic Partner Program: Insights on the Enhancements with AI Integration

How Vendors Empowering System Integrators for AI & Data Transformation