Increasingly Advanced DDoS Attacks Ramp Up Amid Mounting API, AI Targeting
SC Media, Wednesday, March 18th, 2026
SecurityWeek reports that distributed denial-of-service attacks have increased in volume and scale amid the increasing prevalence of API intrusions and AI abuse.
More advanced Layer 7 DDoS intrusions that target APIs and web apps have risen by 104% during the past three years, findings from Akamai's State of the Internet Report showed. While the acceleration of Layer 3 and Layer 4 attacks that impact network and transport layers has been slower over the same period, such DDoS incidents have attained significant scale, primarily due to the Mirai botnet. Meanwhile, APIs have emerged as one of the leading initial vectors for enterprise environment compromise, with API intrusions found to have expanded the scope of Level 3 and Level 4 DDoS attacks, according to researchers, who noted shadow API issues being amplified by shadow AI usage.