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teravpn March 16, 2022

What is DDoS? What can you do to protect your network from it?

According to its name, DDoS has Distributed Denial of Service. The attack is a service mitigation attack in which multiple servers or machines running in different locations attack the same server or web application. The target is struck with a lot of traffic to stop its services; these attacks are usually for ransom from the attacker to pay for the service to function correctly. The attacks can last from hours to days. This attack lasted 509 hours, or more than 21 days, making it the most extended DDOS attack ever recorded.

DDOS attacks: common types

UDP Flood
In DDoS attacks, the victim host is bombarded randomly with UDP packets so that the host is going through the following list.
Listening application on the requested port.
Make sure no application is listening.
Send a packet indicating that the host is unavailable
Multiple requests will cause the victimized host to be overburdened and inaccessible to other users.

ICMP Flood
A DDoS attack uses the Internet Control message protocol, also known as ping by network analysts, which assists attackers in sending multiple ping requests to targeted hosts and obtaining the transmitted packets from the target servers. The purpose of ping requests is usually to check whether a machine or server is up or down. However, if multiple ping requests are sent to one device or server, that machine will be down. DDoS attacks can be mitigated with several commands, such as ping -n, ping -t, and ping -I.

SYN Flood
An established connection is carried out by sending synchronization packets to clients in the first step and acknowledging the packets sent by servers in the second step. A response ACK is returned in the third step when the host receives this packet. On the other hand, a DDoS attack skips the third step by hiding its IP address or using algorithms that prevent the spoofed IP address from receiving an acknowledgment from the targeted host.

Ping of Death
Using this method, attackers send an oversized ping request to the targeted host to crash or freeze it. IPV4 packets with IP headers are standardized and can not exceed 65,535 bytes in size. The protocol is violated if the amount is increased. Therefore, the attacker sends fragments to gain access to his desired bytes. During packet assembly on the target host, memory overflow occurs, resulting in a crash. Thus, the ping of death is called.

SlowLoris
By sending multiple HTTP requests to the host server and keeping open sockets to the server while sending requests, SlowLoris attacks the server and not the machines. The wait time is determined by the number of open sockets on the server.

NTP amplification
There were no protocols for synchronizing clocks on the internet in the past, but now there are protocols to do that. By using a spoofed IP address or that of the victim, a DDoS attack sends multiple requests to the NTP server.

HTTP Flood
This attack is carried out repeatedly by using GET and POST methods to the targeted host to transmit multiple HTTP requests to the targeted host. POST requests can access dynamically generated resources, with getting requests dealing with standard, static content such as images.

Zero-Day DDoS Attacks
The unidentified or new DDoS attacks fall under this category.

Defending against DDoS attacks
Test Run DDoS attacks are among the measures you should take as preventive measures.

Monitoring spikes in traffic on your network through Google Analytics will enable you to alert yourself when a DDoS attack is active on your site.
Several free and open-source applications can be used to test if your system can withstand the DDoS attack.

Ion Cannon with Low Orbit
Unicorn UDP
Installation of a firewall

DDoS attacks can also be reduced by implementing a firewall. Software or hardware firewalls are also available.

Activity Log
For this process, you must use the netstat command of the command prompt to confirm that you are being attacked. Later on, you can download any network analyzer and see anomalies in your traffic.
Scan your computer for malware

A malware scanner should also be installed before any data is entered. When there is an ambiguity, a notification is also sent.

Outsourcing
It is also possible to outsource DDoS protection for your website. As well as contacting your host, you can take measures like temporarily stopping DDoS attacks and taking your website down. If you get back online, you should get a service from a security organization to keep you safe; some of them are Akamai, Cloudflare, Imperva Incapsula, DOSarrest, and so on.

Security mechanisms of UltaHost:
In hosting, security is of utmost importance. Keeping BitNinja on our channel as our Security Partner, UltaHost keeps a tough and unbreakable security system on our servers. A DDoS attack or any other security threat is prevented. Defending all attacks is BitNinja’s mission. BitNinja’s advanced security system now protects all of our customers. Because it uses self-learning algorithms, it is capable of upgrading itself.

This article was a lot of fun for me, and I’m sure you will enjoy the AtalNetworks platform too. We offer 24/7 support to all customers. We focus on one-click scaling, performance, and security for our powered infrastructure. We would love to demonstrate the Kinsta difference to you! Please take a look at our plans.