How do DDoS Attacks Work?
The logic of a DDoS attack is very simple, although attacks can be highly different from each other. Network connections consist of various layers of the OSI model. Various types of DDoS attacks focus on particular layers. Examples are illustrated below:
- Layer-3: Network layer – Attacks are known as Smurf Attacks, ICMP Floods, and IP/ICMP Fragmentation.
- Layer-4: Transport layer – Attacks include SYN Floods, UDP Floods, and TCP Connection Exhaustion.
- Layer-7: Application layer – HTTP-encrypted attacks.
What is DDoS(Distributed Denial of Service)?
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) is a type of DOS attack where multiple systems, which are trojan infected, target a particular system which causes a DoS attack.
A DDoS attack uses multiple servers and Internet connections to flood the targeted resource. A DDoS attack is one of the most powerful weapons on the cyber platform. When you come to know about a website being brought down, it generally means it has become a victim of a DDoS attack. This means that the hackers have attacked your website or PC by imposing heavy traffic. Thus, crashing the website or computer due to overloading.
Example: In 2000, Michael Calce, a 15-year-old boy who used the online name “Mafiaboy”, was behind one of the first DDoS attacks. He hacked into the computer networks of various different universities. He used their servers to operate a DDoS attack that brought down several websites such as eBay and Yahoo. In 2016, Dyn was hit with a massive DDoS attack that took down major websites and services such as Netflix, PayPal, Amazon, and GitHub.
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