Defending against Windows RDP attacks In 2020, attacks against Windows Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) grew by 768%, according to ESET. But this shouldn’t come as a surprise, given the massive increase in people working remotely during the pandemic. With enterprises resorting to making RDP services publicly available, hackers have taken notice. Some DDoS attacks are leveraging RDP servers to amplify their effect, and malware like Trickbot is employing scanners to identify vulnerable open RDP ports. When it comes to remote access, RDP is functionally rich and very useful. It’s not inherently dangerous, but given its complexity, ubiquity, and position within the operating system, RDP has a large attack surface. If publicly exposed, vulnerabilities that emerge may be exploitable by hackers to cause serious damage to an enterprise.