Cyprus firms warned over growing DDoS threats

A sharp rise in DDoS attacks is placing Cyprus’ banking, payments and iGaming sectors at heightened risk, according to new data from cybersecurity firm Qrator Labs.

The company’s first quarter report for 2026 highlighted that these industries, which form the backbone of the island’s digital economy, are among the most frequently targeted globally.

According to the findings, banks accounted for 22.8 per cent of DDoS incidents, followed by payment systems at 15.9 per cent and betting platforms at 10.0 per cent.

Together, these three sectors represented nearly half of all recorded attacks during the first quarter of the year.

The report also pointed to a growing shift towards more complex and sustained cyberattacks, increasing the level of disruption faced by businesses operating in availability-critical sectors.

Compared to the previous year, the share of multi-vector DDoS attacks rose by 34 per cent, while incidents combining network-layer and application-layer techniques nearly doubled.

At the same time, high-intensity attacks have become significantly more common, with multiple incidents exceeding 1 Tbps recorded during the quarter.

One of the most notable cases involved a Cyprus-based iGaming platform, which was targeted by a DDoS attack that exceeded 2 Tbps at its peak.

The attack maintained its peak intensity for more than 40 minutes, an unusually long duration given that attacks of this scale typically last only seconds.

Such incidents have the potential to disrupt online services, payment processing and customer access, leading to financial losses and reputational damage for affected companies.

The report further highlighted the rapid expansion of large-scale botnets, which are increasingly being used to launch sustained attacks.

The largest observed malicious network grew more than tenfold over the past year, reaching 13.5 million devices.

This growth, the company explained, significantly lowers the barrier for carrying out large-scale and prolonged cyberattacks.

The findings are particularly relevant for Cyprus, where a significant proportion of digital businesses operate in sectors that depend heavily on uninterrupted online availability.

The report warned that infrastructure limitations, including restricted subsea cable capacity, could amplify the impact of large-scale attacks on the island.

This could affect not only targeted organisations but also broader network stability across Cyprus.

“Global DDoS trends are increasingly reflected in regions like Cyprus, where key industries are both highly digitalised and internationally exposed,” said Qrator Labs head of global network security Andrey Leskin.

“As Cyprus-based companies expand into new markets, particularly in Latin America or Southeast Asia, they face not only higher background levels of cybercrime, but also the risk of DDoS attacks being used as a competitive tool,” he added.

“In this environment, businesses need to factor cyber resilience into their expansion strategy from the start, rather than reacting to incidents after they occur,” he concluded.