Understanding the Recent DDoS Attack Against Read the Docs

In mid-to-late June 2026, Read the Docs experienced its largest DDoS attack in history, with peak traffic reaching 5.5 million requests per minute—about 100 times normal baseline levels—lasting nearly ten days. The attack was highly sophisticated, featuring massive global distribution across millions of unique IP addresses, rapid adaptation to defenses, and deliberate targeting of areas that bypassed caching. The incident tested the company's infrastructure and incident response capabilities, prompting a detailed analysis of DDoS attack evolution and defense strategies.