Online services are subjected to malicious attacks, rendering them unavailable to users. The assault is carried out by stopping the servers’ hosting services or suspending them. This attack is carried out using a botnet, which is a network of devices spread around the world. A unique path of interconnected systems that exclusively uses a distinct set of service attacks to flood a target with malicious traffic. It plays a big part in the denial of service assault. This article will explain more on how to prevent denial service attack, types, example, dos, and DDoS attack.
What Is Denial of Service Attack
A denial-of-service (DoS) attack is any attempt to disrupt the normal functioning of a computer or other device in order to prevent its intended users from accessing it. To disrupt service for more people, a DoS attack will often overwhelm or flood the targeted computer with requests until normal traffic is unable to be processed. A single computer being used to initiate the attack is what defines a DoS attack.
DoS assaults frequently target the web servers of well-known corporations, including media, financial, and commercial companies, as well as governmental and commercial organizations. DoS attacks can cost the victim a lot of time and money to deal with, even though they normally do not lead to the theft or loss of important information or other assets.
Types of Dos Attack
#1. Udp Attacks
The remote host is the target of UDP flood assaults that flood random ports on the host. When the host doesn’t find any application ports, it sends an ICMP packet message with the destination unreachable header. Services become unavailable as a result, which has an impact on the host resources. User Datagram Protocol (UDP) packets are used to affect and attack the host, as the name would imply.
#2. Tcp Syn Flood
Using the three-way handshake procedure that TCP uses to connect two devices. The victim reacts with a SYN-ACK packet after receiving SYN packets from the attacker. The server keeps the connection open and finally runs out of resources because the attacker does not reply with a third ACK packet.
#3. Death Ping
An ongoing barrage of erroneous or malicious pings is sent to the server during this attack. A single IP packet can include up to 65535 bytes, including the header. For Ethernet, 1500 bytes is the maximum frame size for the data connection layer. Given that a maximum IP packet is split up into numerous IP fragments, in this scenario, the receiving host has all the IP packets or fragments necessary to finish the entire IP.
However, after the virus has processed the fragment data, the recipient packets may have been reassembled with more data than 65535 bytes. Overloading a packet’s memory space can result in a denial of service, which prevents the processing of real and legitimate packets.
#4. HTTPS Flood
In this case, the hacker targets the standard, valid HTTP GET or POST response to take advantage of a web service or server. It doesn’t make use of reflection techniques, spoofing techniques, or broken packets. Compared to other assaults, it uses the least amount of bandwidth to slow down an application or host server.
However, when it forces the system or application to provide the most resources in response to each unit request, it is more effective.
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Denial of Service Attack Example
In 2020, a DDOS attack on Amazon Web Services was one of the most well-known instances of a denial of service attack. The assault took advantage of the lax security of external networks linked to the Amazon network. The attackers took advantage of third parties, then used them as zombie clients to increase their attack. Per zombie client, the hackers were able to increase the amount of data delivered to Amazon’s network by 50–70 times. Moreover, there was no significant or long-lasting damage from this attack, but it did affect AWS for three days.
The websites of the US government have received a number of DoS threats and attacks.
- Attempted DoS assaults on the White House website, www.whitehouse.gov, occurred in the early 2000s.
- DoS attacks caused the temporary shutdown of numerous U.S. Congress websites for several days in 2016.
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How to Prevent Denial of Service Attack
Although it can be difficult to stop a DoS assault, there are a number of viable strategies:
#1. Network Segmentation
Networks can be divided into smaller, easier-to-manage segments to lessen the effects of a DoS attack. VLANs can be set up to accomplish this, and firewalls can stop an attack from spreading. Zero-trust microsegmentation is the best option. The most effective method of DoS defense still involves implementing device-level and device-cloaking firewalling, which runs independently of the operating system.
#2. Load Balancing
A DoS attack can be stopped from overtaxing one server or resource by spreading traffic over several servers. Both hardware and software technologies are capable of achieving load balancing.
#3. Ip Blocking
DoS traffic can’t reach its target if traffic from known or suspected malicious sources is blocked.
#4. Rate Limiting
A DoS attack can be avoided by limiting the amount of traffic that can reach a server or resource.
#5. Content Delivery Network ( Cdns)
Distributing website content across multiple locations makes it more difficult for an attack to bring down an entire site.
Dos and Ddos Attack
A server is overloaded during a denial-of-service (DoS) attack, rendering a website or resource inaccessible. A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack is a DoS attack that floods a targeted resource with several computers or machines. Both kinds of attacks aim to overwhelm a server or online application in order to stop services from working.
When a server receives more Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) or User Datagram Protocol (UDP) packets than it can handle, the server could crash, the data might get damaged, and resources might get misallocated or even run out to the point that the system becomes paralyzed.
However, DoS attacks are system-on-system attacks, whereas DDoS attacks include multiple systems attacking a single system.
Difference
This is the main distinction between the two types of attacks. However, there are further variations in either their discovery or nature, such as:
- Ease of detection and mitigation: Because a DoS originates from a single point, it is simpler to identify its source and cut the connection. In truth, a capable firewall is capable of doing this. A DDoS attack, on the other hand, conceals its source by coming from numerous distant sites.
- Attack speed: A DDoS attack can be launched significantly more quickly than a DoS attack that starts from a single place because it originates from several locations. Due to the difficulty in identifying the attack’s increased speed, there may be greater damage or perhaps a catastrophic result.
- Traffic volume: Because a DDoS assault uses several remote workstations (zombies or bots), it can deliver significantly more traffic simultaneously from different locations, quickly and covertly overloading a server.
- Execution method: A DDoS attack orchestrates numerous hosts that have been infected with malware (bots), forming a botnet that is controlled by a command-and-control (C&C) server. A DoS attack, on the other hand, usually employs a script or tool to execute the attack on a single machine.
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What Is the Cause of Ddos Attacks?
DDoS assaults happen for many different reasons. Demands for a ransom are common following a distributed denial of service attacks. On the other side, a ransom note threatening an attack can sometimes be issued in advance. To further express one’s views, DDoS attacks are sometimes utilized in hacktivism.
Can You Protect Against Ddos Attacks?
A distributed denial of service (DDoS) assault is something that can never be entirely avoided. However, organizations can take preventative measures to lessen the impact of an assault on their capacity to access their resources.
How is DDoS a threat?
A Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Attack is a form of cybercrime in which the attacker deliberately overwhelms a server with traffic in order to prohibit legitimate users from accessing the attacked service or site.
What Is the Best Defense Against Ddos?
To protect against distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, a WAF is essential. It prevents attacks on the application by malicious traffic.
Reference
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