{"id":7316,"date":"2022-09-26T09:45:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-26T09:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clickcease.com\/blog\/?p=7316"},"modified":"2023-02-02T15:35:57","modified_gmt":"2023-02-02T15:35:57","slug":"what-is-a-ddos-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clickcease.com\/blog\/what-is-a-ddos-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is a DDoS Attack How Can You Avoid It?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A DDoS attack can render your website vulnerable, expose your users’ info, and even cost your business thousands of dollars in revenue. Yet, according to Kaspersky<\/u><\/a>, less than 40% of companies take preventive measures against them. This is partly because DDoS attacks are difficult to understand and even harder to mitigate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DDoS attacks have recently become quite affordable to launch \u2013 costing around 50 dollars a day to launch \u2014 according to Kaspersky lab<\/u><\/a>. Kaspersky also declares that half of all DDoS attacks against companies were used as smokescreens to cover up other kinds of cyber attacks. And with one in three organizations now being hit, it’s imperative to create an anti-DDoS attack measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But to create effective measures against DDoS attacks, we must first understand them and examine the damage they do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a DDoS Attack?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A DDoS attack stands for Distributed Denial of Service attack, and it\u2019s a cyber attack strategy where hackers submit multiple access requests on a server to overwhelm the resources and prevent legitimate users from accessing the websites and services connected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word “distributed” means that attackers use bot traffic<\/u><\/a> from many sources spread over multiple IP addresses to access the servers. Modern website protection tools are smart enough to detect multiple traffic from the same connected device\/internet connection, making a distributed attack necessary for the hack’s success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides targeting large services, DDoS attacks can also be aimed at individual business servers. Here, the hackers may want to shut down a competitor to steal traffic, install ransomware, or simply to protest the organization’s existence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2013, hacktivists, on behalf of the Syrian Electronic Army, launched a DDoS strike against the U.S.’s executive branch, targeting government and privately held organization websites to shut down their service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent example of a business-aimed DDoS attack occurred in 2021 when Microsoft shut down a DDoS attack aimed at one of its Azure customers. The attack was thought to be the largest DDoS attack ever recorded and, thankfully, was unsuccessful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do DDoS Attacks Work?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

DDoS attacks can be mounted on any scale, depending on the size of the target server. Hackers need to submit enough connection requests to overwhelm the servers and keep legitimate users out. They can do this in one of two ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"bot<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A Denial of Service Attack<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A DoS attack is a simpler DDoS attack involving a single internet connection used to bombard the target with fake traffic and requests. These are now ineffective for the most part due to improvements in cybersecurity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Botnets<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The majority of DDoS attacks are implemented by bots. Attackers begin by hacking into regular user computers and installing scripts or malware known as bots. These bots then combine to form a collective network called a botnet with thousands or millions of IP addresses, all available to do the hacker’s bidding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are the Types of DDoS attacks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Distributed Denial of Service is a broad category that involves several types of attacks. Cybercriminals will often use one of several approaches to attack their targets, and these approaches can be divided into three broad categories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Volumetric attacks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Volumetric attacks use massive attack traffic to overwhelm your website\u2019s resources, saturating bandwidth and slowing down all your processes. The malicious traffic will keep legitimate traffic from accessing your site. Volumetric DDoS attacks work because the target is not prepared for such an excessive amount of traffic<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protocol attacks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Protocol attacks also use malicious traffic and consume your networks\u2019 processing capacity. Web servers, firewalls, and layer 3 and layer 4 protocol communications are saturated with excessive requests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Application attacks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

These aren\u2019t your typical DDoS attack. Application layer attacks exploit vulnerabilities in your application layers by opening connections and creating transaction requests that gradually eat up limited resources like disk space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Long Do DDoS Attacks Last?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

DDoS attacks can last anywhere from a minute to several hours and can also vary in degree of severity. However, the average DDoS attack will last for about four hours (Securist<\/u><\/a>), and the duration depends on the hacker\u2019s goal or the swiftness of the target\u2019s response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is a DDoS Attack Serious?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A DDoS attack is quite serious and is possibly one of the most costly cyber attacks a business can encounter. Here are just some of the ways that a DDoS attack can affect both large and small businesses<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lost Customers and Revenue<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

During a DDoS attack, there are increasingly fewer resources for your actual costumes. That means a large chunk of your real traffic will not be able to access your site, and eventually, turn to a competitor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wcatech<\/u><\/a> estimates that small businesses lose between $8,000 and $74,000 for every hour of down time. Even a few minutes can prove to have devastating consequences on your bottom line. There are also IT recovery costs and preventive measures to protect against further attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stolen Data Costs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

DDoS attacks are often used as a distraction while hackers execute their primary intention. The real target could be data \u2013 user passwords and sensitive financial information \u2014 or the corruption of the business\u2019 database. The cost of data breaches can be significant because it also impacts the business\u2019 reputation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legal Costs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Zappos.com<\/u><\/a> vs. Stevens<\/u><\/a> shows that businesses can be sued for losing user data in a data breach. Zappos, an eCommerce store, suffered a data breach during which several user data was stolen, including Thersa Stevens’. Even though the petition was denied, it at least shows that businesses could face legal consequences if they fail to create DDoS mitigation strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"blocking<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How to Prevent a DDoS Attack<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It is impossible to completely prevent a DDoS attack because of the challenge of differentiating bots from legitimate user traffic. However, you can implement countermeasures that make it harder for hackers to successfully execute a DDoS attack, and create plans to mitigate the attack once it commences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some successful strategies for dealing with DDoS attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have a Solid Response Plan<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

According to Statistica<\/u><\/a>, the gaming, internet and telecom, and financial services industries are the top three industries targeted by DDOs attacks. If your business falls in these categories, preparing a response strategy is critical so you can respond as soon as the attack commences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That means creating:<\/p>\n\n\n\n