A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal functioning of a website, server, or online service by overwhelming it with massive amounts of traffic. The goal is to make the target slow, inaccessible, or completely unavailable to legitimate users.
How It Works
In a DDoS attack, cybercriminals use a network of compromised systems, known as a botnet, to flood the target with requests. Each device in the botnet (which could include computers, IoT devices, or servers) sends a small amount of traffic, but collectively, they generate a huge surge that the target cannot handle. This overload consumes network bandwidth, processing power, or application resources, causing downtime.
Business Impact
For enterprises, a DDoS attack can have severe consequences. Beyond immediate service disruption, it can lead to revenue loss, reputational damage, and loss of customer trust. In industries such as e-commerce, finance, or healthcare, even a few minutes of downtime can translate into significant business and operational impact. Attackers may also use DDoS as a distraction to carry out data theft or ransomware attacks.
Common Types of DDoS Attacks
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Volume-based attacks: Flood the target with large amounts of traffic to exhaust bandwidth (e.g., UDP floods).
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Protocol attacks: Exploit weaknesses in network protocols, targeting firewalls and load balancers (e.g., SYN floods).
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Application-layer attacks: Focus on disrupting specific applications or services by mimicking legitimate user behaviour (e.g., HTTP floods).
Defence Strategies
Effective DDoS protection involves a layered approach. Enterprises deploy traffic filtering, rate limiting, and cloud-based mitigation services that detect and neutralise malicious traffic before it reaches critical infrastructure. Network providers like Cisco and security vendors such as Cloudflare, Akamai, and Radware offer advanced detection and scrubbing technologies.
Considerations
Preparedness is key. Having a DDoS response plan, along with regular testing and traffic baselining, ensures that IT and security teams can act quickly when under attack. As digital dependency grows, DDoS resilience has become a core part of business continuity planning.
