DDoS Attacks: Meaning and Mitigation

If you are someone who spends a fair amount of time on the internet, then you may not be oblivious to DDoS. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) is a malicious attempt to disrupt the service of a server or a network by sending packets of request from a network of botnets. The idea is to flood the network with fake traffic to deny legitimate users to go through. It is used by hackers and hacktivists to sabotage a company’s website for their malevolent gains.

How Does it Work?

The hackers compromise hundreds and thousands of computers or IoT devices, turning them into botnets. These botnets are then used to create fake traffic to a particular IP address flooding them with requests to a point where legitimate users are denied the service. It becomes very difficult to guard against a DDoS attack as the requests are distributed across many systems.

Types

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