Record-Breaking DDoS Attacks & the Security Landscape Heading Into 2026

#ThisWeekinNET — Episode 115

In this end-of-year episode of This Week in NET, host João Tomé is joined by Omer Yoachimik, Senior Product Manager for DDoS Protection at Cloudflare, to break down the realities of the 2025 DDoS threat landscape — and what’s coming next.

They discuss how DDoS attacks reached previously “theoretical” scales in 2025, including record-breaking 31 Tbps attacks, the rise of massive botnets like Aisuru, and how geopolitical events increasingly shape cyber activity. Omer explains why traditional scrubbing-center defenses are becoming obsolete, how Cloudflare’s autonomous, globally distributed mitigation works, and why automation and real-time intelligence are now essential.

The conversation closes with practical advice for organizations, common myths about DDoS risk, and what to expect in 2026 as attacks grow larger, faster, and more sophisticated.

Subscribe for more weekly conversations on Internet trends, infrastructure, and technology:
https://ThisWeekinNET.com/

⏱️ Timestamps

01:34 — The big picture: Scale, sophistication, and geopolitics behind modern DDoS

02:51 — Inside massive botnets: 4 million infected hosts and attacks for hire

06:45 — Breaking records: 31.4 Tbps attacks

07:18 — How Cloudflare mitigates DDoS autonomously across over 100 countries

13:33 — DDoS as a smokescreen: Hiding data theft and deeper attacks

15:01 — Who gets targeted and why: Gaming, gambling, and geopolitics

27:59 — Looking ahead to 2026: The end of legacy scrubbing centers and protecting critical infrastructure

Read the related blog posts on the Cloudflare Blog:
https://blog.cloudflare.com/tag/ddos/