What is DDoS attack (Distributed Denial of Service attack)?
It is an attempt to make a website or an application unavailable to authentic users, such as by flooding it with network traffic. In AWS, attackers can disrupt a system by slowing down the network or servers.
In DDoS, the attacker can use multiple sources to o orchestrate an attack against a target. These sources can include distributed groups of malware infected computers, routers, IoT devices, and other endpoints.
Types of DDoS attacks
There are several different types of DDoS attacks. In general, a DDoS attack falls under three primary categories: volumetric attack, protocol attack, and resource layer attack.
- A volumetric attack overwhelms the network layer with—what, initially, appears to be legitimate—traffic. This type of attack is the most common form of DDoS attack. An example of a volumetric attack is DNS (Domain Name Server) amplification, which uses open DNS servers to flood a target with DNS response traffic.
- A protocol attack causes a service disruption by exploiting a weakness in the layer 3 and layer 4 protocol stack. A SYN attack, which consumes all available server resources (thus making a server unavailable), is an example of such an attack.
- A resource (or application) layer attack targets web application packets and disrupts the transmission of data between hosts. Examples of this type of attack include HTTP protocol violations, SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and other layer 7 attacks.
Cyber-attackers might use one or multiple types of attacks against a network. For instance, an attack might start off as one class of attack and then morph into or combine with another threat to wreak havoc on a system.
Additionally, there are a variety of cyberattacks within each category. The number of new cyberthreats is on the rise, and expected to climb, as cybercriminals become more sophisticated.
If you suspect your network is under attack, it’s important that you act fast—on top of downtime, a DDoS attack can leave your organization vulnerable to other hackers, malware, or cyberthreats.
DDoS protection