What is a Distributed Denial of Service attack?

Written by Daily Fix - Published 22-Jun-2023, last updated 21-Jun-2024

A distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack is a cyber attack that attempts to make a website or online service unavailable to its intended users. This is usually accomplished by overwhelming the targeted machine or network with a flood of traffic from multiple sources.

DDoS attacks can be very disruptive and costly, and they can have a significant impact on businesses and individuals. In some cases, DDoS attacks have been used to bring down entire websites or online services.

So what are the main types of DDoS attack?

Types of DDoS attack

There are two main types of DDoS attacks:

Volumetric attacks

These attacks use a large volume of traffic to overwhelm the target. This can be done by sending a flood of requests to the target, or by sending large amounts of data to the target.

Protocol attacks

These attacks exploit vulnerabilities in the target's network protocols. This can be done by sending specially crafted packets to the target, or by flooding the target with packets that are difficult to process.

How are DDoS attacks carried out?

DDoS attacks can be carried out by a variety of methods, including:

Botnets

A botnet is a network of computers that have been infected with malware and are controlled by a malicious actor. Botnets can be used to launch DDoS attacks by flooding the target with traffic from the infected computers.

Crowdsourcing

DDoS attacks can also be launched by crowdsourcing. This involves recruiting a large number of people to send traffic to the target.

What can be done to protect agains DDoS attacks?

There are a number of things that can be done to protect against DDoS attacks, including:

Using a CDN

A CDN can help to distribute traffic across multiple servers, which can help to mitigate the impact of a DDoS attack.

Implementing security measures

There are a number of security measures that can be implemented to help protect against DDoS attacks, such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and honeypots.

Having a disaster recovery plan

In the event of a DDoS attack, it is important to have a disaster recovery plan in place. This will help you to restore your website or online service as quickly as possible.

Conclusion

If you are concerned about DDoS attacks, we encourage you to do some research to learn more about the different types of attacks and the steps that you can take to protect yourself.