A Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal functioning of a server, website or network by overwhelming it with a huge amount of fake traffic from multiple sources. The objective of a DDOS attack is to make the target unavailable to its intended users, thus disrupting normal business operations.
Types of DDOS Attacks
- UDP Flood: A type of attack that floods random ports on a target system with a high volume of User Datagram Protocol (UDP) packets.
- SYN Flood: A type of attack that exploits the way the TCP protocol handles connection requests. It sends a large number of connection requests to the target server and exhausts its resources.
- ICMP Flood: A type of attack that sends an excessive number of Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Echo Request packets to the target system.
- TCP Flood: A type of attack that sends a large number of TCP connection requests to the target system, consuming its resources and making it unavailable to legitimate users.
- HTTP Flood: A type of attack that sends a high volume of HTTP requests to the target website, causing it to crash or become unavailable.
How to Detect and Survive a DDOS Attack
- Monitor Network Traffic: Regular monitoring of network traffic can help detect any unusual spikes in traffic that could indicate a DDOS attack.
- Use Firewall: Implementing a firewall to filter out unwanted traffic can help protect against DDOS attacks.
- Deploy Scrubbing Center: A scrubbing center can filter out malicious traffic and ensure that only legitimate traffic reaches the target system.
- Use Load Balancer: A load balancer distributes incoming traffic among multiple servers, reducing the risk of a single server being overwhelmed by a DDOS attack.
- Work with Service Providers: Work with service providers that offer DDOS protection services to secure your online presence against these types of attacks.
Applications and Vendors to Help in DDOS Protection
- Cloudflare: A cloud-based service that provides DDOS protection and content delivery network (CDN) services.
- Akamai: A cloud service provider that offers DDOS protection and other security solutions for websites and applications.
- Amazon Web Services (AWS): A cloud computing platform that offers various security features, including DDOS protection.
- Incapsula: A cloud-based service that provides DDOS protection, website security and optimization services.
- Radware: A provider of application delivery and network security solutions, including DDOS protection services.
