Cloudflare actively defends against massive cyber threats by automatically detecting and neutralizing large-scale Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, including record‑breaking assaults exceeding 30 terabits per second, ensuring client and Internet resilience.
A Surge in Hyper‑Volumetric DDoS Threats
In the first quarter of 2025, Cloudflare blocked approximately 20.5 million DDoS attacks—a staggering 358% increase year-over-year and 198% quarter-over-quarter. Around one-third of those assaults targeted Cloudflare’s own infrastructure during an 18-day, multi-vector campaign spanning SYN floods, Mirai botnet attacks, and amplification techniques, all mitigated autonomously by its defenses.
Notably, over 700 hyper-volumetric attacks—those breaching the thresholds of 1 Tbps or 1 billion packets per second (Bpps)—were stopped in Q1, averaging eight such attacks daily.
As Q2 unfolded, the number of overall DDoS attacks dropped to 7.3 million, but the threat persisted: Cloudflare mitigated more than 6,500 hyper-volumetric attacks, averaging 71 per day. While total attacks declined, they still remained 44% higher than in Q2 2024.
Breaking and Rewriting Records
Cloudflare’s Q3 2025 DDoS Threat Report revealed a staggering escalation: the Aisuru botnet, with an estimated 1–4 million infected devices, launched routine hyper-volumetric attacks exceeding 1 Tbps and 1 Bpps, peaking at an unprecedented 29.7 Tbps and 14.1 Bpps. Autonomous defenses stopped an average of 3,780 attacks per hour—totaling 8.3 million blocked in Q3 alone, a 15% quarter-over-quarter and 40% year-over-year rise.
Then in Q4, Cloudflare confronted “The Night before Christmas,” a record-setting DDoS campaign from Aisuru targeting telecom firms and even its own infrastructure. This assault peaked at 31.4 Tbps and delivered a barrage of 200 million requests per second—again thwarted by Cloudflare’s automated systems.
Autonomous Detection: The Key to Resilience
Cloudflare’s strength lies in its autonomous defense systems, designed to act faster than human response time—especially vital since most DDoS attacks are fleeting. In Q3 2025, most network-layer attacks (71%) and HTTP-layer attacks (29%) concluded in under 10 minutes, leaving manual mitigation impractical.
Similarly, in Q1, the largest floods lasted mere tens of seconds, yet their ripple effects—downtime, instability—can stretch far longer.
This underscores the necessity for automated, scalable defenses capable of neutralizing threats as they evolve.
Behind the Scenes: Technology that Scales
Cloudflare extends protection through several innovations:
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Global Network and DDoS Intelligence
Its massive network capacity swelled from 35 Tbps in 2020 to over 321 Tbps by early 2025, giving it the bandwidth to absorb and neutralize advanced threats. -
Real-Time Threat Visibility via Cloudforce One
Launched in March 2025, the Cloudforce One platform delivers real-time threat intelligence, attack timelines, and tactical insights. This continuous visibility enables security teams to respond faster and anticipate emerging cybercriminal tactics.
Human Unpredictability Meets Technical Precision
Even against mounting threats, Cloudflare’s systems reflect a human-like adaptability: evolving with botnet tactics, amplifying network defenses, and deploying decoy traps for scraping bots.
The tone of this fight is a bit chaotic—you know, messy like real life—yet Cloudflare weaves that unpredictability into its strategy, ensuring reliability at scale.
Conclusion
Cloudflare continuously mitigates large-scale cyberattacks through a blend of expansive network infrastructure, automated detection systems, and evolving threat intelligence. From Q1’s hyper-volumetric uptick to Q4’s record-shattering 31.4 Tbps assault, Cloudflare has proven that rapid automation and global scale are critical in keeping the digital world online.
FAQs
What is a hyper‑volumetric DDoS attack?
A hyper-volumetric attack exceeds thresholds like 1 Tbps in bandwidth or 1 billion packets per second, delivering overwhelming traffic volumes too quickly for manual defenses to handle.
How does Cloudflare block attacks so quickly?
Cloudflare relies on automated systems and a massive global network. Their autonomous defenses detect and mitigate threats in real time—often before any performance degradation occurs.
What was Aisuru’s most powerful attack?
In December 2025, the Aisuru botnet launched “The Night before Christmas” campaign, peaking at 31.4 Tbps and 200 million requests per second—Cloudflare stopped it fully.
Does Cloudflare rely on human intervention?
Minimal human action is required. Given the short lifespan of most DDoS attacks—many under 10 minutes—Cloudflare’s systems operate autonomously.
How much traffic does Cloudflare’s network handle?
By early 2025, Cloudflare’s network capacity had grown to around 321 Tbps, an enormous scale that enables them to absorb even the largest attacks.
