Web attacks surge, APIs targeted, reports Akamai
Most organisations hit by cyberattacks, says Rubrik report
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Web attacks surge, APIs targeted, reports Akamai
A kamai Technologies has released a new report indicating a significant rise in web attacks, with APIs emerging as primary targets.
The State of the Internet report reveals 311 billion web attacks in 2024, a 33 % year-on-year increase. Akamai attributes this surge to the increased adoption of AI applications.
30 %. The report also identifies shadow and zombie APIs as vulnerable attack vectors.
“ AI is transforming web and API security, enhancing threat detection but also creating new challenges,” said Rupesh Chokshi, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Akamai’ s Application Security Portfolio.
The report shows the substantial focus on APIs, with 150 billion API attacks recorded between January 2023 and December 2024. The growth of the AI API market and the integration of AI-driven tools have expanded the attack surface, with many APIs relying on weak authentication. Layer 7 distributed Denial-of-Service( DDoS) attacks against web applications and APIs also saw a dramatic rise, increasing by 94 % between Q1 2023 and Q4 2024.
Other key findings include that commerce organisations experienced the highest volume of web attacks( 230 billion), nearly triple that of the high technology sector. The high technology sector was the most affected by Layer 7 DDoS attacks( 7 trillion).
Incidents related to the OWASP API Security Top 10 increased by 32 %, and security alerts related to the MITRE security framework grew by
Most organisations hit by cyberattacks, says Rubrik report
countries( half of whom were CIOs or CISOs), highlights the challenges posed by hybrid environments, leading to what it describes as a cloud security crisis.
The report found that nearly a fifth of organisations globally experienced more than 25 cyberattacks in 2024. Common attack vectors included data breaches, malware, cloud or SaaS breaches, phishing and insider threats. The attacks resulted in increased security costs( 40 %), reputational damage( 37 %) and forced leadership changes( 33 %).
The adoption of AI and cloud technologies has exacerbated data sprawl, with 90 % of IT and security leaders managing hybrid cloud environments. This has led to challenges in securing data across varied ecosystems( 35 %), a lack of centralised management( 30 %) and insufficient visibility and control over cloud-based data( 29 %).
N ew research from Rubrik Zero Labs indicates that 90 % of IT and security executives reported their organisations experienced cyberattacks in the past year.
The report, The State of Data Security in 2025: A Distributed Crisis, is based on insights from over 1,600 IT and security leaders across 10
Ransomware remains a significant threat, with 86 % of organisations paying ransoms after a successful attack. Nearly three-quarters( 74 %) of organisations said threat actors were able to partially compromise back-up and recovery systems, while 35 % said their systems were completely compromised. Identity threats are also intensifying, with 92 % of organisations using between two and five cloud and SaaS platforms, creating vulnerabilities.
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