Protecting Your Business From DDoS Attacks
DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks are one of the many criminal activities that occur on the web and have the potential to bring down even the largest websites.
You can well imagine the scenario when servers get overloaded with more requests than they can handle. When the servers are unable to meet the load of junk requests, they crash and need time to restore.
Did You Know?
2020 was another breakout year for DDoS owing to the rise in DDoS activity as compared to past years. The number of DDoS attacks over 100 GB/s in volume increased 776 percent in Q1 2020.
The searches related to DDoS attacks spiked and the biggest reason behind that was due to the biggest E-commerce giant, Amazon, claiming that it had brushed aside the largest DDoS attack ever reported.
This rise in the searches for DDoS attacks indicates that people are becoming more aware of the threat these attacks pose. With this, it’s important to understand all aspects of DDoS attacks.
Thus, we are here with this blog, where we will be discussing various aspects of DDoS attacks; so, let’s begin!
What is a DDoS Attack & How Does it Work?
DDoS attack stands for Distributed Denial of Service, where cybercriminals flood a network with large amounts of traffic making it unresponsive and inoperative.
This clogging of the network makes even the normal traffic or legitimate packets come to a halt. And the important thing to note here is that DDoS attacks are fueled by insecure devices and some careless practices.
However, the good thing is that we can easily tweak the practice and incorporate strict measures to ensure that DDoS attacks don’t happen on your devices.
To explain to you in simple language we are here with an example. Just imagine you are driving down a highway. You are already in a rush and want to get to work as soon as possible.
During your journey to your destination, everything is smooth, but as you reach the entryway more cars join in. And, there’s no end to it as more cars keep on joining making the traffic slow to such an extent that it almost brings the traffic to a halt.
This is what happens when a DDoS attack takes place.
These DDoS attacks are common because the cyber armies are dormant until they are given orders. A specialized server called a command and control server which is typically abbreviated as a “C2” has a huge role to play. The cybercriminals order this specific C2 server to issue instructions to a compromised device.
On receiving the instructions, the insecure and compromised devices use their processing power to send fake traffic to the targeted server or website. This is how a DDoS attack is launched.
Read Also: Why are banks still a top target for DDoS Attacks?
What are DDoS Attacks Used For & are DDoS Attacks Successful?
DDoS attacks are usually successful owing to their distributed nature and due to the fact that it’s challenging to figure out the difference between traffic from legitimate users and fake traffic.
However, the main purpose is not to attempt a data breach on the targeted website. Instead, it is to overwhelm the website and render it inoperable.
This could be due to several reasons. Generally, these attacks are launched for political reasons as retaliation against a company’s services.
Still, you cannot knock out the possibility of a breach because oftentimes cybercriminals use the attack as a smokescreen and attempt compromises of a more serious nature.
Why are DDoS Attacks Dangerous & What are Its Implications?
Depending on the intensity of the attack, a DDoS attack can leave behind impacts that can seriously hamper the continuity of your business. The biggest reason seems to be the heavy dependability of organisations on the internet. Many applications are mission-critical, meaning the operability is crucial to business operations.
DDoS is not only an attack but a serious threat especially for organizations like retailers, financial services, and gaming companies.
As DDoS targets the business applications, servers, and websites, the main purpose is to make the entire system inoperable on which the organizations largely depend.
It clogs the pathway with traffic that not only affects the daily operations but hampers productivity. All this can ultimately lead to angry customers, losing revenue, and damage to the reputation of the business.
Types of DDoS Attack?
DDoS attacks are less complicated, but they are getting more advanced and growing stronger with time. The three basic categories of DDoS attack include:
- Volume-based attacks that use high traffic to inundate the network bandwidth.
- Protocol attacks, which are the ones that emphasize exploiting the server.
- Application-based attacks that target the application and are considered a more serious type of attack.
Based on the above three categories, and considering the volume of traffic and additional vulnerabilities to be exploited, there are many attacks carried out by cybercriminals that involve DDoS.
SYN Flood
SYN flood is an attack that targets the weaknesses in the TCP connection sequence. An attacker repeatedly sends connection attempts without finalizing the connection. They do this by exploiting the TCP handshake, a three-way handshake performed to establish a connection with a host.
The attacker sends continuous SYN requests, leading the server to acknowledge those requests with an ACK response. The continuous requests lead to the server becoming overloaded with the requests and trying to keep up with the responses.
Read Also: Guide to Penetration Testing
UDP Flood
UDP stands for User Datagram Protocol, which is a type of networking protocol. This attack targets random ports on a computer or network using UDP packets. Here the host checks for the applications that address those ports.
HTTP Flood
HTTP flood leverages the HTTP protocol to send what look like legitimate GET or POST requests, but are really malicious ones being sent by an attacker. These attacks use less bandwidth than others but can lead the server to use more resources.
Ping of Death
Ping of Death is a type of attack that sends malicious pings (ICMP) to a system with the intent to manipulate the IP protocols. However, this attack has become less effective in today’s time.
Smurf Attack
Smurf attacks use a malware program called smurf to exploit Internet Protocol (IP) and Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP). It uses an ICMP to spoof an IP address to which it pings on a given network.
Contact here for Web Application Penetration Testing
Fraggle Attack
The Fraggle attack is another type of DDoS attack that blocks a router’s broadcast network by using a large amount of UDP traffic. It is similar to a smurf attack but uses UDP rather than ICMP.
Application Level Attacks
Another type of DDoS attack is the application-level attack that targets and exploits the vulnerabilities in an application. It doesn’t target the entire server, but an application on the server that has a few known weaknesses.
Zero-Day DDoS Attack
A zero-Day DDoS attack is a new type of attack that is more advanced and targets recently disclosed vulnerabilities that haven’t been patched.
How Long Does DDoS Attack Last?
DDoS attacks vary in time length depending on the severity of the attack. It can last from a good 24 hours to around two weeks.
How Difficult is It to Prevent a DDoS Attack?
Since DDoS attacks are of distributed nature, it is challenging to prevent. The main issue that arises is that organizations can’t figure out the difference between legitimate web traffic and fake traffic.
Aside from the challenges, there are still some countermeasures you can input to ensure that a DDoS attack doesn’t happen to your organization.
How Can You Stop DDoS Attacks?
1. Identify that DDoS Attack Has Been Launched
The first thing that any organization has to do is to identify that it is under attack. The sooner you can identify the issue, the better the outcome will be.
The wisest thing you can do is to familiarize yourself with the inbound traffic as it will be easier for you to spot anomalies that come with DDoS attacks.
2. Develop a Response Plan
You should undertake a thorough security assessment of your entire network and develop a DDoS response plan based on it.
The reason we are recommending you develop a plan is that when a DDoS attack happens, it’s much more difficult to respond quickly and effectively without a plan. Thus, you need to define a proper strategy so you can take prompt reactions and avoid any damage.
Read Also: Penetration Testing Tools
It is best to consider the infrastructure before you make a plan because complex security and network infrastructure can make the plan quite exhaustive. Ensure that your data is prepared, and the team is well aware of the attack.
You can do the following:
- Prepare system checklist to ensure implementation of filtering tools and security-enhanced hardware.
- Form a quick response team to ensure organized reaction.
- Define procedures and enable quick notification. Ensure that you have a proper channel of communication so your team knows who to connect with in case the attack is launched.
Also, keep a list of internal as well as external contacts that you can get help from. Inform your contacts and get in touch with your cloud service providers or security vendors.
3. Give More Bandwidth to Your Server
If you give more bandwidth to the server, it can accommodate more traffic. With this, if there is any unexpected traffic surge, there would be no issue of blocking the pathway.
You may still have a DDoS attack on your hands, but the added bandwidth will give you more time to protect your resources that are at risk.
4. Practice Basic Security
Another best practice is to ensure that the users in the organization make the least possible errors. Indulge in strong security practices and educate your employees so that nothing gets compromised when it comes to the security of the system.
Ensure that everyone uses complex passwords that cannot be guessed easily, force the users to change their passwords regularly, and implement secure firewalls to block unnecessary outside traffic.
All these security measures could be considered as a strong foundation that will help to prevent DDoS attacks.
5. Beware of the Warning Signs
You must check for the obvious warning signs to prevent DDoS attacks. The signs may include network slowdown, connectivity issues in the company intranet, website shutdown, prolonged issues with the server, and more. If you feel any unexpected change, you must take the right action.
6. Look for a DDoS Mitigation Service
It is wise to choose a DDoS mitigation service that tracks the traffic on the website and applications continuously. They have dedicated engineers and administrators that take immediate action and save your organization from any disaster.
Ensure that the service provider helps you with a comprehensive mitigation plan that provides better protection against DDoS attacks in the future.
Secure Triad is one such agency that can help you with a smart plan against DDoS attacks. It is one of the renowned penetration testing service providers, which is based in Australia.
The company has an accommodating and dedicated team of experts that will help you ensure business continuity.
If you are facing any issues and want to enhance your cybersecurity, consider contacting our security experts. Call us here to find out more about DDoS attacks and what we can do for you.
Originally published at https://securetriad.io on June 4, 2021.
