Understanding DDoS Attacks: A Comprehensive Guide
A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is a malicious attempt to incapacitate or bring down a website, web application, cloud service, or any online platform by inundating it with a flood of futile connection requests, fabricated packets, or other nefarious traffic. This onslaught floods the targeted websites with malevolent traffic, rendering their applications and services inaccessible to genuine users. Consequently, the overwhelmed target struggles to cope with the surge in illegitimate traffic, resulting in a significant slowdown or even a complete system crash, thereby depriving legitimate users of access.
DDoS attacks belong to the broader spectrum of denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, encompassing all cyber assaults aimed at impeding the functionality or availability of applications or network services. What sets DDoS attacks apart is their unique modus operandi of orchestrating attack traffic from multiple origins simultaneously, hence earning the "distributed" attribute in "distributed denial-of-service."
For over two decades, cybercriminals have leveraged DDoS attacks to disrupt network operations. However, recent years have witnessed a notable escalation in both the frequency and potency of these attacks. As per a report, DDoS attacks surged by a staggering 203 percent in the initial half of 2022 compared to the corresponding period in 2021.
How Do DDoS Attacks Work?
DDoS attacks operate differently from other cyber threats, eschewing the exploitation of network vulnerabilities to infiltrate computer systems. Instead, they leverage standard network connection protocols such as Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) to inundate endpoints, applications, and assets with a deluge of traffic surpassing their capacity. Web servers, routers, and network infrastructure can only handle a finite volume of requests and connections at any given time. By saturating a resource's available bandwidth, DDoS attacks impede the response to legitimate connection requests and packets.
In essence, a DDoS attack unfolds in three stages:
Stage 1: Target Selection The choice of a DDoS attack target hinges on the attacker's motives, which vary widely. Attackers employ DDoS attacks for diverse purposes, including extortion, activism, business rivalry, and even state-sponsored cyber warfare. Common targets include online retailers, cloud service providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure, financial institutions, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers such as Salesforce and GitHub, and gaming companies.
Stage 2: Botnet Creation DDoS attacks typically require a botnet, comprising internet-connected devices infected with malware, allowing hackers remote control. Botnets encompass a range of devices, from computers and mobile phones to IoT devices. Cybercriminals may build their botnets or acquire pre-established ones through the "denial-of-service as a service" model.
Stage 3: Attack Launch Hackers orchestrate the botnet devices to inundate the target server, device, or service with connection requests or packets. These attacks employ brute force by overwhelming the target's bandwidth or intricate requests to exhaust its resources. The outcome is a denial of service, hindering legitimate traffic access to the website, application, API, or network. To obfuscate their attacks, hackers employ IP spoofing, forging fake source IP addresses, including the victim's own IP address through reflection techniques.
What Types of DDoS Attacks Are There?
DDoS attack varieties are often identified based on the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) Reference Model terminology, delineating seven network 'layers.'
Assaults on the Application Layer: These attacks focus on layer 7 of the OSI model, where web pages are generated. A prominent example is the HTTP flood attack, inundating websites with a barrage of HTTP requests. Such assaults present challenges in prevention and mitigation, particularly with the increasing adoption of microservices and container-based applications.
Protocol-based Attacks: Protocol attacks target layers 3 and 4 of the OSI model, seeking to overwhelm critical network resources. SYN flood attacks exploit the TCP handshake, while Smurf attacks manipulate the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) to flood victims with excessive data.
Volumetric Assaults: Volumetric DDoS attacks monopolise available bandwidth, preventing legitimate users from accessing network resources. Common forms include UDP floods, ICMP floods, and DNS amplification attacks, overwhelming targets with high volumes of traffic.
Multivector Offensives: Multivector attacks utilise multiple attack vectors to maximise impact and evade mitigation efforts. These attacks may employ various vectors simultaneously or switch between them mid-attack. For instance, hackers may initiate a smurf attack and subsequently launch a UDP flood from their botnet.
Understanding the intricacies of these attack methods is paramount in fortifying cyber defences against DDoS threats, which can also be employed in conjunction with other cyberattacks for increased potency.
Why Are DDoS Attacks Are So Common?
DDoS attacks persist and proliferate in the cyber realm for several compelling reasons:
Ease of Execution: DDoS attacks necessitate minimal or no expertise, enabling cybercriminals to easily deploy them by leveraging pre-existing botnets. With readily available resources, launching DDoS assaults demands little preparation.
Detection Challenges: Detecting DDoS attacks proves arduous due to the amalgamation of consumer and commercial devices within botnets. Distinguishing between genuine and malicious traffic becomes a formidable task for organisations, exacerbated by the similarity in symptoms with legitimate traffic spikes.
Mitigation Complexity: Once identified, mitigating DDoS attacks poses significant challenges. The distributed nature of these assaults renders traditional security measures ineffective, as blocking a single traffic source fails to halt the onslaught. Moreover, conventional controls like rate limiting risk impeding operations for legitimate users.
Proliferation of Botnet Devices: The burgeoning Internet of Things (IoT) landscape furnishes hackers with an expansive array of devices ripe for botnet conversion. IoT and operational technology (OT) devices, often lacking robust security measures, offer fertile ground for malware infiltration. Owners may remain oblivious to compromise, given the passive or intermittent usage of these devices.
Rising Sophistication: DDoS attacks evolve in sophistication as cybercriminals harness artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies. The advent of adaptive DDoS attacks underscores this trend, wherein AI and ML algorithms dynamically adjust attack vectors and strategies, circumventing traditional mitigation efforts.
The Escalating Impact & Cost of DDoS Attacks
DDoS assaults are poised to disrupt system operations, posing substantial financial burdens on organisations. According to IBM's 2022 Cost of a Data Breach report, cyberattacks, including DDoS incidents, incur an average cost of USD 1.42 million, encompassing service disruptions and system downtime. A poignant example is a VoIP provider, which suffered a staggering USD 12 million loss due to a single DDoS onslaught in 2021.
The pinnacle of DDoS onslaughts, documented as the largest on record, unleashed a torrent of 3.47 terabits per second of malicious traffic, besieging a Microsoft Azure patron in November 2021. Leveraging a botnet comprising 10,000 global devices, assailants inundated the victim with a staggering 340 million packets per second.
Governments, too, have fallen prey to DDoS onslaughts, exemplified by the 2021 attack on Belgium. Here, hackers targeted a government-operated internet service provider, crippling the internet access of over 200 governmental entities, universities, and research centres.
Moreover, cybercriminals increasingly utilise DDoS attacks as a diversionary tactic, deflecting attention from more sinister cybercrimes such as data exfiltration or ransomware deployment. This strategic shift underscores the evolving landscape of cyber threats, necessitating comprehensive defence strategies against multifaceted cyber assaults.
Safeguarding Against DDoS: Protection, Detection & Mitigation
Shielding against DDoS assaults hinges on swiftly diverting malevolent traffic, often through rerouting to scrubbing centres or employing load balancers to redistribute the onslaught. To bolster defence mechanisms, enterprises may embrace technologies adept at recognising and intercepting nefarious traffic. These include:
Web Application Firewalls (WAFs): A cornerstone in safeguarding networks and applications, WAFs scrutinise requests before they reach web servers. Unlike conventional firewalls, WAFs discern legitimate requests from malicious ones, preemptively dropping harmful traffic to thwart application-layer attacks.
Content Delivery Networks (CDNs): CDNs expedite access to online services by dispersing servers strategically. By rerouting requests to proximate CDN servers, rather than the origin server, CDNs enhance a service's resilience against DDoS assaults. In case of an attack, traffic can seamlessly shift to other server resources within the network.
Security Information and Event Management (SIEM): SIEM systems, pivotal for early detection, amalgamate log management and network insights. Offering centralised oversight of security data, SIEMs monitor devices and applications for anomalies, flagging potential threats like excessive pings or spurious connection requests for immediate action.
Detection and Response Technologies: Leveraging advanced analytics and AI, solutions such as Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), Network Detection and Response (NDR), and Extended Detection and Response (XDR) surveil network infrastructure for signs of compromise. Automated responses, such as terminating suspicious connections, enable real-time mitigation against evolving threats.
By embracing these proactive measures, organisations fortify their resilience against the evolving landscape of DDoS threats, ensuring uninterrupted operations and safeguarding critical assets. For comprehensive assistance in implementing these preventative measures and more, CYB3R is ready to support all your cyber security needs.
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