How Much Do You Understand DDoS Attacks?

The recent ransomware cyber-attacks have brought the concept of DDoS attack under the scanner once again though this concept has existed for some years now. In such circumstances, you need to have enough information about DDoS attacks in order to prepare for it and prevent it from sabotaging your organization’s website.

What is a DDoS attack?

The full form of DDoS is Distributed Denial-of-Service. It is important to understand the concept of a DoS or Denial-of-Service attack in order to get a clear idea about a DDoS attack. DDoS is different from the conventional DoS attack. A DoS attack is meant to flood a website with requests in order to make it crash. The website denies access to all the visitors when it crashes so it is known as a denial of service. This happens because a website cannot handle more than a certain number of requests at a time. Under DoS attack, only a particular website is targeted whereas the server remains unbreached. So the company’s data stays secure.

In case of DDoS attack, the intention of the hacker is to cause harm by breaking into the server on which the company’s website is hosted. Once the server is breached, the hacker gives a command or uses a code which is meant to disrupt the functioning of the website and harm the company’s reputation in some way. As the server is breached, the hacker intends to steal confidential data and gain control of the server for illegitimate activities.

Generally, web servers contain DDoS protection measures in order to deny service to those IP’s which send too many requests. Such suspicious activity activates this layer of protection. However, this method only works on selective DoS attacks. The Distributed DoS or DDoS attack counters such protection to breach the server and gain entry.

In this method, the hacker first breaks into the servers of many websites and gathers a whole group of compromised IP’s. Then he launches requests from all these IP’s at the same time as a part of the DoS attack. Due to requests from so many different sources at the same time, the server of the attacked website is unable to differentiate which request is authentic and which is faulty. The DDoS hacker is able to get into the server and wreak havoc with it.

A DDoS attack requires serious skills and a lot of planning. All the requests need to flood the targeted server at the same time in order for the DoS attack to become successful. As the DDoS attacks are on a large scale, they are termed as ‘distributed’. This attack is specifically meant for illegal activities. The worst part is that the organization whose website is under siege does not even realize that an attack has taken place and it loses sensitive information at the same time. This is what the Ransomware hackers have taken advantage of.

How can servers be protected from DDoS attacks?

A DDoS attack is carried out by hackers at various levels. The information is passed from one group of hackers to the next in order to carry out the attack successfully. As all publicly accessible servers can be attacked, mostly all websites are vulnerable as they make use of such servers. Even a DDoS firewall and traffic monitoring tools are not full-proof and they can fail to block the traffic that is directed at a server by a hacker during a DDoS attack.

The best way to provide DDoS protection to a website is to make use of private infrastructure to host the website. This infrastructure is meant to host just that particular organization’s website. As the code is completely unknown to others, the chances of an attack become next to nil.

All the data of the company can be safely protected. The company can go on working uninterrupted over this network. It is like using a private lane instead of the highway to carry on work without the disturbing presence of traffic.

Why do you need to go for DDoS protection as soon as possible?

A DDoS attack compromises your website’s security and makes it a platform for illegal activities of hackers. You need to choose DDoS protection measures because the attacks are getting more complex day by day. The hackers are carrying out more than 50 million DDoS attacks every year. Fraudulent activities and thefts are making the DDoS threats more dangerous. The financial loss due to a DDoS attack is quite substantial as you lose customers and the hackers carry out fund transfers from your account. In order to avoid becoming the next victim of a DDoS attack, you need to go for DDoS protection today itself.

With the help of DDoS protection, your website can continue to function normally and conduct business without any danger of a DDoS attack. So take immediate action before its too late.

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