"This is known as an amplifier attack because this method takes advantage of misconfigured DNS servers to reflect the attack onto a target, while amplifying the volume of packets," the CERT description said.

Unlike typical DDoS attacks, the volume of data generated by amplifer attacks is greater by several orders of magnitude, Silva said. Though this type of attack is not especially new, the latest wave demonstrates how good hackers are getting at launching them, he said.

"It really demonstrates how much horsepower these people have developed and how efficient they are at developing it," he said.