Understanding Dos And DDoS Attacks

In the Digital World, Dos and DDoS attacks have been another matter of concern to the users, as it compromises user access to meet the required online agenda. In other words, it interferes with the user’s private workspace, hence not allowing the user to carry out his task.

What is a DoS attack?

DoS or ‘Denial of Service’ is a cyber-attack that denies the user to accomplish any task online by attacking the server by flooding it with unnecessary traffic or sending any information which would bug the system. This stops the user from having access to the desired information.

What is a DDoS attack?

DDoS, Decentralized Denial of Service, is yet another extension of DoS, where multiple systems attack a single user in combat by working in a synchronized manner against the victim.

How do DoS and DDoS attacks carried out?

The attacker who inflicts the malware into the victim’s computer or the device is called a ‘bot’ and together they form a network of attackers called ‘botnet’.

They use malware which allows them to have remote access to the victim’s device. These botnet attackers bombard the system of the victim by sending unnecessary requests resulting in the weakening of the bandwidth, diverting traffic to the victim’s computer, and overloading information which would ultimately disrupt the functioning and bring the system to a collapse. This is how the DoS and DDoS work.

Types of DDoS Attacks

1. Volume-Based Attacks — This type of attack involves the weakening of bandwidth. Its magnitude is measured in ‘bits per second (bps). Examples- are UDP floods and ICMP floods.
2. Protocol Attacks — This attack particularly targets the server of the user. It works using fragmented packets and therefore it is measured in terms of ‘packet per second (pps). For example- SYN-flood, Ping of Death, and Smurf DDoS.
3. Application Layer Attacks — It depends on the type of application software one uses. The attacker directly takes advantage of the vulnerabilities of that particular application and gradually crashes the web server. It is measured as ‘request per second (rps). For example- GET/POST floods.

How do DDoS Attacks Affect the End User?

There are severe effects of DDoS attacks-

• It bugs the system resulting in downing the websites or even the whole system.
• Gives unauthorized access to the system(s) in the botnet.
• Hampers the working of the victim’s computer.
• Involves interference within a private enterprise, hence attacking the privacy of the victim.
• Empowers the bots to misuse the victim’s system by remaining undercover.
• Reduces the efficiency of the system as well as the end-user.

How Can Organizations Counter DDoS Attacks?

• The organizations can have their server work as a host so that the control lies completely in the hands of the organization itself.
• The websites hosted by other servers can use services like Cloudflare so that the attacker could not directly attack your system. All the requests will have to go through the cloud before reaching you.
• Create a response plan for DDoS attacks by an escalation of protocols.
• Secure Firewall operations, as well as updated versions of antivirus and anti-malware, must be active.
• Distributing the data on multiple servers would make it difficult for the hacker to track the data from different locations at the same time.
• Take essential security measures as soon as you recognize the symptoms of DDoS attacks like slow-down of the system, getting no response from the site, etc.

Final Thoughts

With the vivid benefits of digitization, comes a huge responsibility of security which is constantly subjected to the threats like DoS or DDoS attacks. These attacks bring risk to not only the end-user but also to everyone who is connected to the victim. Being aware of such malpractices and keeping in mind the required safety measures one can successfully battle the evil atrocities of the attacker and sell through easily.