DDoS attack: Definition & Examples
May 19 2022 DDoS attack DDoS DDoS attack Distributed-Denial-of-ServiceDDoS attack – Definition
A Distributed-Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack is a form of cyber attack. It means that the goal of a DDoS is to overload a server, computer, or network with massive amounts of traffic from various sources. When the target falls down, regular users will be denied access to its services or access to it.
When criminals succeed in shutting down your organization, your profits will suffer. It will also increase the cost of repairing the problem and harm your reputation. A DDoS attack might also serve as a decoy for thieves planning another data breach attack. Finally, if your website is down for an extended period of time, your search engine ranking may suffer.
Examples of DDoS attacks in the history
- The DDoS attack against Amazon
The massive DDoS attack occurred in February 2020, and Amazon’s AWS claimed it was the most significant DDoS attack ever recorded, with 2.3 Tbps*. CLDAP reflection (a well-known UDP reflection vector) was employed to magnify the attack. In addition, the way to protect from such attack is to implement DDoS protection, UDP monitoring, Firewalls, etc.
- The Google Attack
When it comes to DDoS attacks, Google and those who use their services don’t have it easy. In October 2020, there was a major flood attack with 6 Mrps (millions of requests per second) and 690 Mpps (mega packets per second).
- GitHub DDoS attack
GitHub was the victim of one of the biggest confirmed DDoS attacks. This attack occurred in February 2018 and reached 1.3 Tbps, delivering 126.9 million packets per second.
How to protect against it?
Okay, we scared you, but now you may relax. There is a solution to defend your e-commerce site against DDoS attacks while keeping it operational. Here are some of them:
- You can increase your security against malicious DDoS attacks by using a DNS service that is DDoS protected DNS. It comes with a set of tools that can be quite useful in ensuring the availability of your network, website, or service. Furthermore, it is significantly less expensive than paying for the consequences of a cyberattack.
- In the event of a DDoS attack, Anycast DNS can distribute traffic throughout the complete network of DNS servers. Furthermore, if one of the servers is down due to a DDoS attack, the remaining servers will remain operational. That implies they’ll continue to respond to requests from ordinary users.
- Online businesses usually follow specific traffic patterns. It would be ideal if you could acknowledge them. That way, if there is any aberrant behavior, you will be able to spot it. Furthermore, with a Monitoring service, you will be able to detect when something is wrong with your network. You will know the specifics about your network and traffic thanks to the various sorts of tests you can run.
Conclusion
Let’s review. The Distributed-Denial-of-Service attack could be really harmful to your business organization. If you don’t want it to happen, take preventive measures. For example, implement DDoS protection software, Anycast DNS, or a service that will monitor your traffic. Good luck!