Updated on: July 19, 2024
A Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack is when a website or application goes offline due to it being overwhelmed by a massive influx of malicious traffic. These cyber attacks are increasingly common and can be devastating to your business and brand reputation.
In this guide, we’ll explain what a DDoS attack is, how to prevent one, and what steps to take if you’ve been targeted. Understanding and mitigating these threats is crucial for maintaining the availability and security of your online services in 2024.
For protection against DDoS attacks and other cyber threats, you should use an antivirus. I recommended Norton. It comes with advanced security features that can help safeguard your business from a wide range of cyber attacks, including DDoS attacks
What Is a DDos Attack?
DDoS stands for ‘Distributed Denial-of-Service’. A DDoS attack happens when a hacker sends a flood of traffic to a network or server in order to overwhelm the system and disrupt its ability to operate. These attacks are usually used to knock a website or application offline temporarily and can last for days at a time, or even longer.
We use the term Denial-of-Service because the website or server will be unable to serve legitimate traffic during the attack. Furthermore, they’re called a Distributed Denial-of-Service because the illegitimate traffic comes from hundreds, thousands, or even millions of other computers. When it comes from one single source, it’s known as a DoS attack.
DDoS attacks usually utilize a botnet (a collection of many computers or internet-enabled devices that have been taken over remotely) using malware to launch the attack.
Types of DDoS Attacks
- Application Layer Attacks. Application layer attacks are the simplest form of DDoS; they mimic normal server requests. In other words, the computers or devices in the botnet come together to access the server or website, just like a regular user would. But as the DDoS attack scales up, the volume of seemingly-legitimate requests becomes too much for the server to handle and it crashes.
- Protocol Attacks. A protocol attack exploits how servers process data in order to overload and overwhelm the intended target. In some variations of protocol attacks, the botnet will send data packets for the server to assemble. The server then waits to receive a confirmation from the source IP address, which it never receives. But it continues to receive more and more data to unpack. In other variations, it sends data packets that are simply unable to be reassembled, which overwhelms the server’s resources while it tries to do so.
- Volumetric Attacks. Volumetric attacks are similar to application attacks, but with a twist. In this form of DDoS, an entire server’s available bandwidth is eaten up by botnet requests that have been amplified in some way. For example, botnets can sometimes trick servers into sending themselves massive amounts of data. This means that the server must process the receiving, assembling, sending, and receiving of that data again.
The First Example of a DDoS Attack
The first known DDoS attack was carried out in the year 2000 by a 15-year-old boy named Michael Calce and was used to temporarily bring down huge websites like Yahoo, CNN, and eBay. This brand of attack has been on the rise ever since.
Who Launches DDoS Attacks and Why?
Though DDoS attacks have grown in their power and sophistication, basic DDoS attacks can be carried out by almost anyone. In fact, you can even pay for DDoS attacks against a target online using the dark web, or rent an existing botnet to carry out malicious plans.
Early DDoS attacks, like the first one carried out by Michael Calce, were simply done for hacker bragging rights. Usually though, these are the people who use DDoS attacks, and their reasons for doing so:
- Business owners to get ahead of competitors.
- Competitive gamers to take down opponents.
- Activists to prevent people from accessing certain content.
- Trolls to enact revenge on a target.
Who Is Most at Risk of a DDoS Attack?
The average person doesn’t have much to fear from DDoS attacks as giant corporations are the main target. They could potentially lose millions or billions of dollars as a result of downtime caused by a DDoS attack. Smaller business owners could suffer significantly as well. It’s important for any organization with an online presence to be fully prepared for a potential DDoS attack at any time.
How to Prevent DDoS Attacks
You can’t prevent a malicious attacker from sending waves of inauthentic traffic to your servers, but you can be prepared ahead of time to handle the load.
- Catch it early by monitoring traffic. It’s important to have a good understanding of what constitutes normal, low, and high volume traffic. If you know what to expect when your traffic hits its upper limit, you can put rate limiting into place. That means that your server will only accept as many requests as it can handle. Having up-to-date knowledge of your traffic trends will also help you identify a problem quickly. You should also be prepared for surges in traffic due to seasonality, marketing campaigns, and more.
- Get more bandwidth. Once you have a good idea of your server capacity, you should add more. Getting more server bandwidth than you actually need is called overprovisioning and buys you more time in the case of a DDoS attack.
- Use a Content Distribution Network (CDN). The goal of a DDoS is to overload your hosting server. One solution is to store your data on multiple servers all over the world. That’s exactly what a Content Distribution Network does. CDNs serve your website or data to users from a server that’s close in proximity to each user for faster performance. But using one also means that you’re less vulnerable to an attack because if one server becomes overloaded, you have many more that are still operational.
What to Do if You’ve Been Targeted by DDoS
DDoS attacks these days are so sophisticated and powerful that it can be very difficult to solve them on your own. Which is why the best line of defense against an attack is having the right precautions in place. But if you’re under attack, there are a few things you can do:
- Get defensive measures in place quickly. If you’ve got a good idea of what normal traffic looks like, you should be able to identify when you’re under a DDoS attack pretty quickly. You’ll see a massive flood of server requests or web traffic from suspicious-looking sources. But you may still have some time before your server becomes completely overwhelmed and crashes. Set up rate limiting as soon as possible and clear your server logs to free up more space.
- Call your hosting provider. If someone else owns and operates the server that serves your data, notify them of the attack right away. They might be able to “blackhole” your traffic until the attack subsides, meaning any incoming requests to the server will simply be dropped, whether it’s legitimate or illegitimate. From there, they’ll likely reroute the traffic through a scrubber to filter out the illegitimate traffic and let normal requests through.
- Call in a specialist. If you’re under a large-scale attack or can’t afford any downtime to your website or application, you might want to consider bringing in a DDoS mitigation specialist. What they can do is divert your traffic to their own massive servers that can handle the load and try to scrub the illegitimate requests from there.
- Wait it out. Most DDoS attacks are over within a few days (though in severe cases, they can last longer), so you always have the option of simply taking the loss, and being better prepared next time.
How to Tell if Your Computer Has Been Enlisted into a Botnet (& What to Do)
Your computer could be recruited into a botnet being used for a DDoS attack without you knowing it. Here are the signs you should look out for:
- Frequent crashes. Unexpected crashes or restarts can indicate malicious activity.
- Longer load times. Slow performance and longer load times are common signs.
- Strange error messages. Unusual error messages may suggest malware is present.
If you spot any of these signs, follow these steps:
- Install and run antivirus software. Use trusted antivirus software like Norton to perform regular scans. This will help detect and remove malware. Simply subscribe to Norton, download the software, and install it.
- Run a full system scan. A comprehensive scan will identify any malicious software on your device. Most antivirus programs can remove detected malware.
- Remove any infected files. Once Norton’s scan is finished, it will list all malware it detected. Go through this list and remove any flagged files.
- Perform an online virus scan. An additional quick online scan can provide an extra layer of security.
- Avoid suspicious downloads. Never download email attachments or web files unless you know exactly what they are and who they’re from, as phishing attempts can install malware.
- Prepare for high traffic. Ensure your organization can handle larger volumes of web traffic and server requests to prevent issues from traffic spikes.
- Use a CDN and rate limiting. A Content Delivery Network (CDN) and rate limiting based on normal traffic can help mitigate DDoS attacks.
- Invest in good antivirus software. Norton is highly recommended for preventing DDoS attacks and other cyber threats.
- Plan for downtime. Prevention is better than cure. Once a DDoS attack begins and your server is offline, recovery can be costly and damaging to your business sales and reputation. Being proactive and prepared can save you from the significant impacts of cyber threats.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are DDoS attacks so harmful to businesses?
DDoS attacks can cause significant harm by making websites and online services unavailable, leading to lost revenue, damaged reputation, and decreased customer trust. The downtime can be costly, and recovering from an attack can require substantial resources and time.
How can I tell if my website is under a DDoS attack?
Signs of a DDoS attack include slow website performance, frequent crashes, sudden spikes in traffic from multiple IP addresses, and customers reporting difficulty accessing your site. Monitoring tools and security services can help detect these anomalies. If you spot any of them, you should follow our above steps.
What steps can I take to prevent a DDoS attack?
To prevent DDoS attacks, implement strong security measures like using a Content Delivery Network (CDN), setting up rate limiting, and employing a reliable antivirus solution like Norton. Regularly update your systems and monitor your network traffic for unusual activity.
What should I do if my website is targeted by a DDoS attack?
If your website is under a DDoS attack, immediately contact your web hosting provider and consider enlisting a DDoS mitigation service. Use your CDN’s capabilities to manage traffic, and review your security protocols to identify and block malicious traffic. Norton can help in identifying and mitigating the effects of such attacks.