What Is a DDoS Attack?
A DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal traffic of a targeted server, service, or network by overwhelming it with a flood of internet traffic. The goal of a DDoS attack is to make the targeted website or service unavailable to its users by exhausting its resources, causing slowdowns, crashes, or complete downtime. These attacks often use multiple compromised devices (a botnet) to generate massive amounts of traffic.
How a DDoS Attack Works
In a DDoS attack, the attacker uses a network of infected computers or devices (often called a botnet) to send a massive volume of requests to a target server or website. This flood of requests can overwhelm the target, causing it to slow down, crash, or become inaccessible to legitimate users. Because the attack comes from many different sources, it is difficult to block or defend against, making it a powerful and disruptive form of cyberattack.
Types of DDoS Attacks
- Volume-based Attacks: These attacks aim to overwhelm the target with high levels of traffic, such as floods of UDP packets or ICMP requests.
- Protocol Attacks: These attacks target the network protocols and aim to exhaust server resources by exploiting weaknesses in the system.
- Application Layer Attacks: These attacks target specific applications or services on a server, such as HTTP or DNS, by sending complex requests to overload the system.
Why DDoS Attacks Matter
DDoS attacks are a serious threat to businesses and online services, as they can cause significant disruptions, financial losses, and damage to reputations. They are often used as a form of protest, extortion, or to distract from other malicious activities. Understanding DDoS attacks is important for businesses to implement proper defenses, such as traffic filtering, redundancy, and monitoring systems to minimize their impact.
The Simple Takeaway
A DDoS attack floods a server or network with excessive traffic to disrupt its normal operation, causing slowdowns, crashes, or downtime, often using a botnet of compromised devices.