Anyone who goes online can fall victim to cyberattacks. A distributed denial of service (DDoS) is a form of cyberattack that overloads a predetermined infrastructure with a swarm of redundant data requests. This bogs down the system and causes malfunctions. Read on to learn more about DDoS attacks and how to prevent them.
How Do DDoS Attacks Happen?
Malware-infected or compromised systems are most vulnerable to DDoS attacks. Hackers can easily infiltrate these systems and clog your server or network. To make detection harder, hackers use legitimate internet devices or bots to overcrowd an IP address with information and data requests.
Particularly alarming is the rise of DDoS hackers for hire on the Dark Web, resulting in an influx of attacks in the past few years. Common targets include servers run by known financial institutions and telecommunication companies.
Signs of a DDoS Attack
The most noticeable indicator of a DDoS attack is system slowdown or unresponsiveness. These are typically accompanied by an unusual stream of traffic coming from your IP address and an unprecedented number of data and site requests.
However, a DDoS attack can be challenging to pinpoint since the influx sometimes comes from the actual audience or customer expansion. Hence, you must investigate and look for abnormal traffic spikes, user behavior, and geolocation patterns.
Types of DDoS Attacks
There are several types of DDoS Attacks, with the two most common being the buffer overflow attack and flood attack.
A buffer overflow attack overwhelms your computer resources, such as storage, memory, and processor. It causes your device to freeze, crash, and suffer from other frustrating glitches.
In contrast, a flood attack overburdens your server with data packets. Service denial then ensues once these packets overflow and your server are unable to keep up.
DDoS Attack Prevention
DDoS Attacks can be costly. Enterprises, especially small businesses in cut-throat areas like New York and Boston, need a plan in place to counter these attacks.
One way is to partner with a managed service provider (MSP) like BetterWorld Technology that offers quality IT support and protection. MSPs can deploy defenses, such as blackhole routing that redirects traffic, request rate limitation, web application firewall, and network distribution.
Additional precautionary measures include setting up a data recovery plan, evaluating client security settings, and securing all endpoint connections.
Final Thoughts
Cyberattacks like DDoS will continue to rain havoc on casual users and business owners alike. To combat these threats, we should arm ourselves with knowledge and establish partnerships with reputable IT support providers like BetterWorld Technology. Check out our page for more details.