DDoS Attacks 101

Cybercrime is expected to cost businesses over $8 trillion over the next three years, according to the findings of a study by Juniper Research. But while large-scale phishing and ransomware attempts have many companies worried over internet security, there’s another type of cyberattack that’s on the rise — and it’s increasingly used by adversaries to wreak havoc. We are referring, of course, to DDoS attacks.

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks is one of the oldest attack methods in existence. They can cripple a company’s network and/or website servers long enough to set it back considerably, or even cause it to cease operations for the period of the attack and some time afterwards. For a multitude of industry verticals — be it e-commerce, banking or healthcare — a well-executed DDoS attack can become the cause of financial loss, reputation damage and business shutdown.

But how much do you really understand DDoS attacks? Knowing they’re a type of cyberattack or about their potential to cause damage is half the battle, so keep reading to find out how they work, who’s at risk and what can be done to detect and mitigate them.

What Is a DDoS Attack?

DDoS attacks are malicious attempts to distort the normal traffic patterns of a service, network or server by overburdening the target with a flood of Web traffic. A DDoS attack increases in effectiveness by leveraging multiple compromised servers — collectively labelled as a botnet — as sources of malicious traffic. Attack devices can include PCs and other Internet-capable resources such as Internet-of-Things devices.

DDoS attacks can occur to businesses of all sizes at any time and place, and in 2018, the number of attacks experienced by companies around the world skyrocketed. Recent examples of a successful DDoS attack include a high-profile one on GitHub. (Read more...)