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CyberXplained

DDoS Attacks

Explore the mechanics, types, and defenses against Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks in cybersecurity.

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What is a DDoS Attack?

A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal traffic of a targeted server, service or network by overwhelming the target or its surrounding infrastructure with a flood of Internet traffic.

Types of DDoS Attacks

Volume-based Attacks
Includes UDP floods, ICMP floods, and other spoofed-packet floods. The attack's goal is to saturate the bandwidth of the attacked site.
Protocol Attacks
Includes SYN floods, fragmented packet attacks, Ping of Death, and Smurf DDoS. This type of attack consumes actual server resources, or those of intermediate communication equipment.
Application Layer Attacks
Includes low-and-slow attacks, GET/POST floods, attacks that target Apache, Windows or OpenBSD vulnerabilities and more. The goal of these attacks is to crash the web server.
Amplification Attacks
Involves the attacker sending small requests to a server that generates a much larger response, amplifying the amount of traffic sent to the victim.

Preventing DDoS Attacks

  • Implement robust network security measures
  • Use DDoS mitigation services or appliances
  • Configure firewalls and routers to filter traffic
  • Develop an incident response plan
  • Regularly update and patch systems
  • Monitor network traffic for anomalies
  • Implement rate limiting and traffic shaping
  • Use Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) to distribute traffic

DDoS Attack Simulation

Experience a simulated DDoS attack in Visualization

Idle

DDoS

ATTACK INTENSITY
3/5
Attackers
Server0%
3

DDoS: Idle

DDoS Tools and Commands

Common tools used in DDoS attacks and their usage (for educational purposes only)

  • Hping3

    SYN flood attack simulation

    hping3 -c 10000 -d 120 -S -w 64 -p 80 --flood --rand-source TARGET_IP

  • Slowloris

    Slowloris attack (low and slow)

    python slowloris.py TARGET_IP -p 80 -s 500

  • LOIC

    Low Orbit Ion Cannon (GUI-based DDoS tool)

    ./loic.exe

  • Goldeneye

    HTTP DoS Test Tool

    python goldeneye.py http://TARGET_URL/ -w 50 -s 100

  • Tshark

    Monitor network traffic during an attack

    tshark -i eth0 -f "tcp port 80" -n