UPDATE: Yandex thwarts strongest DDoS attack of over 20 mln RPS

(Adds details in last 2 paragraphs)

MOSCOW, Sep 9 (PRIME) -- Specialists of Russian Internet company Yandex have succeeded in fighting off a DDoS attack, the strongest in the history of the Web, of more than 20 million requests per second, the company said in a blog on portal Habr on Thursday.

“Our specialists really managed to thwart a record attack of more than 20 million RPS, the strongest attack among the known on the Internet’s record. It’s just one of a myriad of attacks aimed against not only Yandex, but also many other companies in the world,” Yandex said.

Similar attacks have been in progress during several weeks already on a very large scale, and their source is a new, still little-known botnet.

“In the recent couple of weeks, we’ve all become witnesses to destructive DDoS attacks in New Zealand, the U.S., and Russia. We associate all these attacks with botnet Meris. At present, it can overload almost any network infrastructure, including some highly reliable networks, specially created to handle such volume,” Yandex said.

The botnet’s main feature is a “monstrous” indicator of RPS, and the botnet continues to grow.

End