DOS (Denial of Service) and DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service)
DOS (Denial of Service) and DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks are malicious attempts to render a targeted server, service, or network inoperable by overwhelming it with excessive internet traffic. DDoS attacks leverage multiple compromised computer systems as sources of attack traffic. These attacks consume network resources to obstruct access to services, significantly impacting the functionality of organizations.
Different Types of DDoS Attacks Volumetric attacks overload the server with massive amounts of malicious traffic until it exhausts all available bandwidth. These attacks are designed to overwhelm internal network capacity and even central DDoS scrubbing facilities with extremely high levels of malicious traffic.
TCP State Exhaustion and Application Layer attacks are among the various types of DDoS attacks. Today’s sophisticated attackers combine volumetric, state exhaustion, and application layer attacks into a single sustained assault against infrastructure devices. These cyber attacks are challenging to defend against and often highly effective, as attackers use DDoS tools to disrupt network and security teams while simultaneously attempting to inject malicious software into the network to steal IP and/or critical customer or financial information. These types of attacks are commonly seen as prevalent examples of denial-of-service attacks.
Application Layer attacks target specific aspects of an application or service at Layer 7. These attacks, even with a low traffic rate generated by a small number of attacking machines, are highly effective and among the most lethal types of attacks (making proactive detection and prevention of these attacks very difficult). Application layer attacks have become more prevalent in the last three or four years, with simple application layer flood attacks (such as HTTP GET flood attacks) being some of the most common types of denial-of-service attacks seen in the wild. Today’s sophisticated attackers are combining volumetric, state exhaustion, and application layer attacks against infrastructure devices in a single continuous assault. These cyber attacks have generally become difficult to defend against and often turn out to be highly effective. Attackers use DDoS tools to overwhelm network and security teams while simultaneously attempting to inject malicious software into the network in order to steal IP and/or critical customer or financial information. It should not be forgotten that devices with the capacity to handle millions of connections can be taken offline by these attacks.
DOS and DDOS protection systems are developed solutions to defend against such attacks. These systems adopt a multi-layered approach, analyzing network traffic, detecting and blocking malicious traffic while continuing to serve legitimate traffic.