More recent and sophisticated attacks, such as TCP SYN, might attack the network whilst a second exploit goes after the applications, attempting to disable them, or at least degrade their performance. Simple attacks include the ‘Ping of Death’ – sending more data to the host than the Ping protocol allows, or Syn Flood, which manipulates TCP connection handshakes. “It first appeared in a single region and then expanded to a concerted global effort from millions of computers that had been breached and turned into a botnet.” Types of DDoS attacksĪ DDoS attack ranges from the accidental – genuine users overwhelming the resources of popular sites, such as in a ‘ Reddit hug of death’ – to sophisticated exploits of vulnerabilities. “If we look at the DynDNS attack of 2016, one of the largest DDoS attacks to date, the attack occurred in phases,” says Allen. More recently, internet of things devices have been co-opted into botnets. Botnets traditionally consisted of consumer or business PCs, conscripted into the network through malware. To do this attackers build, or buy, a large enough “Zombie network” or botnet to take out the target. The exploits themselves are simple, but launch enough of them and they will overwhelm even the best systems. A DDoS attack works by operating at scale.ĭDoS attacks work by flooding a service with more traffic than it can handleĪs Joseph Stalin supposedly said of the Red Army during WW2, “quantity has a quality all its own”. On their own, though, most denial-of-service malware will have a limited impact on a well-resourced server. ![]() They might buy an exploit on the dark web, or create their own. ![]() Then the attacker choses the best tool to exploit the site. They might even use a different form of DDoS to cover up that activity. “Of course, in reality, it’s not this simple, and DDoS attacks have been created in many forms to take advantage of the weaknesses.”Īllen explains that an attacker will start out with a discovery phase, setting out to identify weakness in the target site or application. “In their simplest form, DDoS attacks work by flooding a service with more of something than it can handle,” says Barracuda’s Allen. That broadens the attack surface to critical national infrastructure, including power and transportation, and the internet of things (IoT) devices. Any internet-connected device is at risk. This is what is believed to have happened during the attack on UK mobile operator TalkTalk in 2015.Īnd, as Tim Bandos, vice president of cybersecurity at Digital Guardian, warns, DDoS attacks are not limited to online applications or websites. Security researchers also point to DDoS attacks being used as a diversion, allowing hackers to launch other exploits against their targets, for example to steal data. The 2007 DDoS attack on Estonia was directed by a nation state actor, for instance – in this case with links to Russia. ![]() The purpose might be blackmail, to disrupt a rival business, a protest (DDoS attacks are frequently associated with hacktivist groups) or as part of a nation-state backed campaign for political, or even quasi-military aims. “The legitimate traffic can’t get through.” What are the aims of a DDoS attack? “A DDoS puts so much traffic in the queue that your browser thinks the site is offline, and gives up,” says Brian Honan, Dublin-based security expert at BH Consulting. The aim is to interrupt normal operation of the application or site, so it appears offline to any visitors. “They can be a relatively simple type of attack to trigger and for sites without enough protection very effective”, Gemma Allen, senior cloud security architect at Barracuda Networks, told The Daily Swig. The term ‘distributed’ refers to the way these attacks invariably come from a large number of compromised computers or devices. This prevents legitimate users from accessing the services. ![]() What is DDoS?ĭistributed denial-of-service ( DDoS) attacks are a way of attacking online infrastructure, including websites and online applications, by overwhelming the host servers. Even now, they are one of the biggest threats to any organization doing business on the internet. Everything you need to know about distributed denial-of-service attacksĭDoS – or distributed denial-of-service attacks – first came to prominence in the late 1990s.
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