The Hosting News) – A DDoS attack is defined a distributed denial of service attack. This kind of attack tries to make a computer resource unavailable to users. There are different ways in which this kind of attack can be carried out. The reasons and targets for these attacks vary, but the end result is the same, shutting down a system so users cannot access it. The point of a DDoS attack is to prevent an internet site or service from functioning normally or at all. The most targeted web sites for these kinds of attacks are banks, credit card payment gateways, e-business sites and root name servers. A common method of attack is to flood the server with external communications so that it cannot communicate with legitimate traffic, or causes the server to run so slow it is rendered in effective, causing actions to time out. A DDoS attack is carried out by either forcing the target computers to reset, or consuming resources to the point that the targeted computer or server can no longer achieve its primary function. Attacks like this will also limit or stop all communication between the user the victim. A DDoS is a crime most, it violates the Internet Architecture Boards’ internet proper use policy, and TOS of all major internet service providers.
There are different programs that can be used to perform DDoS attacks, some are actually written for benign use, but can be used for malevolent purposes. These programs are written with the intent of performing DDoS attacks while others are true packet injectors and able to perform other tasks.
Examples of the legitimate tools used are hping, socket programming, and httping. There are also underground tools available for such attacks.
Signs of an Attack
The US Computer Emergency Response Team defines symptoms of a DDoS attack as :
Unusually slow network performance, either processes or opening files.
Unavailability of a website
Inability to access a web site
Dramatic increase in spam emails, this is an email bomb.
DDoS attacks lead to issues with branches of a network being attacked. The attack over loads the network; other branches will try to compensate for the increase in traffic. This causes the whole network to slow down. A large enough attack can shut down entire regions of internet connectivity.
Types of tactics a DDoS will use
These are the most common types of DDoS Attacks:
1) Consumption of computational resources: such as bandwidth, disk space, or processor time.
2) Disruption of configuration information: such as routing information.
3) Disruption of state information: such as unsolicited resetting of TCP sessions.
4) Disruption of physical network components: Such as the actual server
5) Obstructing the communication media: between the intended users and the victim so that they can no longer communicate adequately.
The DDoS attack may also use malware to cause further damage:
* Max out the processor’s usage so no work gets done
* Cause Microcode errors in the machine
* Lock up the computer by giving the processor erroneous sequencing
* Locking up the computer through the operating system through resource starvation.
* Crashing the operating system itself.
There are different programs that can be used to perform DDoS attacks, some are actually written for benign use, but can be used for malevolent purposes. These programs are written with the intent of performing DDoS attacks while others are true packet injectors and able to perform other tasks.
Examples of the legitimate tools used are hping, socket programming, and httping. There are also underground tools available for such attacks.
Signs of an Attack
The US Computer Emergency Response Team defines symptoms of a DDoS attack as :
Unusually slow network performance, either processes or opening files.
Unavailability of a website
Inability to access a web site
Dramatic increase in spam emails, this is an email bomb.
DDoS attacks lead to issues with branches of a network being attacked. The attack over loads the network; other branches will try to compensate for the increase in traffic. This causes the whole network to slow down. A large enough attack can shut down entire regions of internet connectivity.
Types of tactics a DDoS will use
These are the most common types of DDoS Attacks:
1) Consumption of computational resources: such as bandwidth, disk space, or processor time.
2) Disruption of configuration information: such as routing information.
3) Disruption of state information: such as unsolicited resetting of TCP sessions.
4) Disruption of physical network components: Such as the actual server
5) Obstructing the communication media: between the intended users and the victim so that they can no longer communicate adequately.
The DDoS attack may also use malware to cause further damage:
* Max out the processor’s usage so no work gets done
* Cause Microcode errors in the machine
* Lock up the computer by giving the processor erroneous sequencing
* Locking up the computer through the operating system through resource starvation.
* Crashing the operating system itself.
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