What is a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack? How do you stop them?

What is a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack? How do you stop them?
What is a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack? How do you stop them?

With increased significance and importance to cloud computing in the era where remote workforce security and virtual mechanisms are already at risk, new kinds of malicious attacks on the remote platforms have also made their way.

New advancements on Cyber platforms have brought new opportunities to cybercriminals to come up with stronger and more malicious cyberattacks to invade into protected data and a business’ privacy. That is when a software-defined perimeter comes into play! Let us understand better.

As per the reports from Cybint Solutions, the US FBI reported a massive 300% increase in cybercrimes since Covid-19. Also, 77% of organizations do not have a response plan to counter the strands of Cybersecurity attacks. It was seen that close to 93% of Healthcare businesses experienced data breaches over the course of the past three years and a total of 43% of cyberattacks are mainly targeted to small businesses.

These statistics are nothing but a clear picture of how our online presence and privacy are exposed exorbitantly to the malpractices of malware, ransomware, phishing, and denial of services. Among these cyberattacks, the one which is increasing every quarter is the DDoS attack, short for “Distributed Denial of Service” attacks.  DDoS attacks have been seen creating huge damages to the websites, applications, and programs lately with their increasing frequency.

What are DDoS attacks?

The DDoS attacks are the “Distributed Denial of Service” attacks that take down your websites, network, applications, and programs on the web with a highly intensive flooding of traffic, intended to overwhelm servers, and in the process, render websites or applications slow or inoperable. These attacks slow down or maybe sometimes take down your functioning permanently through the malicious requests that your server cannot handle.

How does a DDoS attack work?

DDoS attacks use the power of fake traffic by testing the limits of the website, server, and application. It targets the vulnerable and exposed end-points like the search functions.

DDoS leverage a network of hacked computers, known as bots. Since these bots mimic all functions that they are asked to do by the hacker, they are commonly termed  as “zombie computers.” They form what is known as a “botnet” or network of bots. DDoS attacks make the perfect use of the army of Botnets to send a huge load of fake spikes of traffic on a particular end-point. These Botnets are majorly composed of IoT devices, websites, and computers.

This DDoS attack is then launched with the help of Botnets who execute their attacks and destroy the functioning of the applications which leads to prevention and deterioration of performance and slows down the functioning.

In theory, DDoS attacks rely on the simple idea of directing traffic beyond normal capacity to servers, in order to overwhelm them. However, DDoS attacks can be further classified based on the layer which they are attacking. Simply put, the communications between the components of a networking system are split into 7 layers, as per a framework known as the OSI Model. DDoS attacks may target any of the layers. As an example, Layer 3, also called the Network layer can be the target of Smurf Attacks, ICMP Floods, and IP/ICMP Fragmentation.

What is the ultimate motive behind DDoS attacks?

The main objective of the attackers is to slow down the performance of any website, network, or application and to disable the existence of data permanently. Moreover, the main goal of these attacks can also be to prevent legitimate users from accessing websites, servers, networks, and other applications.

DDoS attacks also disrupt the functioning of the business operations which ultimately causes a huge impact on business performance.

How are VPNs more vulnerable to DDoS attacks?

With the regular target on Website Infrastructure, a new trend has been witnessed during Covid-19 where a high number of attacks were tracked on VPN infrastructure as well. Even the low-intensity attacks have been troubling the VPN networks and leading to subsequent VPN replacement.

The low volume attacks fail to trigger the VPN DDoS defenses and it bypasses the defense without being confronted with the defense. On the other hand, the SSL floods exhaust all the server resources and break down the VPN infrastructure. VPN replacement could replace your VPN infrastructure but it would still be exposed to future DDoS attacks. So, it gets very important for a VPN architecture to be equipped with the best DDoS protection and a stringent defense system.

VPNs are found not to be compatible with handling the vicious requests by the DDoS attacks and tumble down when it actually arrives. With increasing significance for remote working and work from home mechanisms, VPNs are playing a major role in the process and these DDoS attacks could be a real threat to their work from home functioning. Hence Remote Workforce security could be a major risk if defense systems are not facilitated properly.

How can Software Defined Perimeter help you prevent DDOS attacks?

The Software Defined Perimeter known as the SDP is the unique and effective approach to counter cyber attacks and keep the assets, Cloud presence as well as the entire network safe from malicious attacks. It creates a black layer for the malicious network resources preventing dangerous attacks against your network.

The SDP keeps your whole network including your IT assets hidden from the unpredictable and undetectable traffic, invisible traffic, and even the Botnet traffic. The SDPs are of utmost compatibility with the existing enterprise security system.

With the help of Software Defined Protocols, the network attack can be mitigated effectively through its five layers of security control –

  • Single Packet Authorization (SPA)
  • Mutual Transport Layer Security (mLTS)
  • Device Validation (DV)
  • Dynamic Firewalls
  • Application Binding (AppB)

Don’t worry Instasafe has your back!

We understand how cybersecurity is and will be of utmost importance in the coming years. We strive at offering the best defense to your Remote workforce security, with the best-in-class Security-as-a-service architecture. We make the perfect use of Behavioral Biometrics, analyzing the unique traditional biometrics of micropatterns and unique patterns.

We also bring the most stringent and rigid defense base to your cybersecurity needs with the effective technologies of Microsegmentation and other security tools in order to create a robust structure which could fight malicious attacks of any kind with complete ease and make sure that your website, network, and applications never goes down.

Get your cybersecurity defense streamlined and secure with Instasafe today!




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