Welcome to the 18th edition of the Cloudflare DDoS Threat Report. Released quarterly, these reports provide an in-depth analysis of the DDoS threat landscape as observed across the Cloudflare network. This edition focuses on the second quarter of 2024. With a 280 terabit per second network located across over 230 cities worldwide, serving 19% of all websites, Cloudflare holds a unique vantage point that enables us to provide valuable insights and trends to the broader Internet community.

The MD5 cryptographic hash function was first broken in 2004, when researchers demonstrated the first MD5 collision, namely two different messages X1 and X2 where MD5(X1) = MD5 (X2). Over the years, attacks on MD5 have only continued to improve, getting faster and more effective against real protocols. But despite continuous advancements in cryptography, MD5 has lurked in network protocols for years, and is still playing a critical role in some protocols even today.

Continuing our interview series with influential figures in the technology sector, we are pleased to welcome Shannon Walker, Executive VP of Strategy at Case IQ, a workplace investigation tool that provides comprehensive risk management features for businesses around the world.

On June 20th, 2024, the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced the prohibition of Kaspersky Lab, Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of a Russia-based anti-virus software and cybersecurity company, from directly or indirectly providing anti-virus software and cybersecurity products or services in the U.S. or to U.S. persons. The prohibition also applies to Kaspersky Lab, Inc.’s affiliates, subsidiaries, and parent companies.

A week before RSA 2024, Forrester predicted which subjects and themes would come to the forefront of the conference. They emphasized that we’d see a focus on proactive security, defined as “a strategic approach to controlling security posture and reducing breaches through strong visibility, prioritization, and remediation.” I went into the conference with this prediction in mind. However, I was surprised by what I found.

Intellectual property (IP) is the intangible property belonging to a company, such as its designs, creative expressions, inventions, or trade secrets. Intellectual property theft leads to serious financial damage for a company, including decreased business growth and loss of competitive edge. Sometimes, companies aren’t even aware that their IP has been stolen, making tracking IP theft difficult. Even though it’s a federal crime, only a small percentage of all IP theft cases are reported.

Gartner projects that by 2026, 80% of software engineering organizations will have established platform engineering teams. The vision of platform engineering is ambitious: to empower developers with all the flexibility they need while minimizing complexity. This approach has already transformed infrastructure, deployment, data analytics, encryption management, authentication, and more.

We’re in an era of connectivity and convenience, but this has also opened the floodgates to a new wave of cyber threats. Among the most insidious and pervasive is credential stuffing, a cyberattack that exploits the human tendency to reuse passwords across multiple online accounts. This threat is more than just a digital inconvenience. Verizon’s 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report reveals that more than 49% of breaches caused by external actors involve stolen credentials.

Summertime often means vacation time—a chance to rest, relax, and dive into some good reading. But for those of us in cybersecurity, truly disconnecting can be a challenge. It’s crucial to stay updated on the latest news and developments within the industry. To help you keep up, we’ve compiled a list of “must-read” cybersecurity content to add to your summer reading list. Here are our top picks for the first half of 2024, complete with a brief summary of each.

Ten years ago, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released the Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) 1.0 following an Executive Order from President Obama to help companies and governments facing cybersecurity attacks. In 2014, data breaches were escalating. Major Fortune 500 companies and household names, such as Target, Yahoo, 7-11, Visa, and more, experienced heaps of customer data theft, online fraud and attacks from malware.

Elastic and Google Cloud are pioneering a comprehensive security solution that leverages our distinct capabilities to offer an unparalleled security analytics experience. This collaboration integrates the Elastic Search AI Platform with Google Cloud's scalable and secure infrastructure services to provide a comprehensive security platform designed to secure hybrid workloads efficiently.