Two wars and a World Cup lead to epic DDoS attacks on publishers

Ukraine, Iran, and football inspire geopolitically motivated DDoS attacks, while 1 Tbps traffic jams up 519 percent

Ongoing wars in Ukraine and Iran, and the FIFA World Cup, all contributed to a DDoS walloping of media organizations throughout 2026 so far, according to Cloudflare’s latest data, which identified the sector as the most targeted this year.

Attacks on media, production, and publishing accounted for 14.2 percent of all DDoS attacks launched since January 1. Over the first six months of the year, the sector saw nearly four times the number of attacks leveled at the second most-targeted sector, gambling and casinos, and six times more in Q2 alone.

“DDoS attacks on media organisations can be highly effective at achieving their core goals, which differ fundamentally from attacks on other sectors," Blake Darché, Head of Cloudforce One and Threat Intelligence at Cloudflare, told The Register.

"For publishers, availability is the deliverable....

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