What is a DDoS attack and how can we stop it?
The internet was rocked by a major DDoS attack on Friday, October 21st of this year. Major outages were reported from all over the East Coast, and then throughout the world. This international attack was only a taste of what is sure to come. Today we’re going to be talking about DDoS attacks, what they are and how we can all do our part to fight against them.
What is a DDoS attack?
So, the question remains, “What is a DDoS attack?” Well, imagine an information desk. Imagine that there are lots of people there, making requests. Everything is fine at this point; this is normal. Now imagine that five hundred people show up and just start screaming. The people behind the information desk are going to get completely overwhelmed and operations are going to cease. That’s basically what happens when a DDoS attack occurs. Servers get overwhelmed with false requests and services are limited or disabled. In this instance, the hackers chose to attack high profile DNS. What is a DNS? Well, a Domain Name Server is basically a service helps direct your browser to the place that you have requested to go, like an information desk. DNS services will translate domain names into IP addresses that computers can understand so that you can navigate the internet as you please. The services are exceptionally important and when they go down, the internet goes with them. However, it is important to note that DDoS attacks can happen to a wide variety of services, making them quite dangerous indeed.
What can be done about this?
At the consumer or even enterprise level, the most important thing that you can do is to ensure that your devices are properly secured. After all, the way that hackers are launching such attacks is by infiltrating poor security on devices like Smart Toasters and children’s toys, hijacking their IP addresses, and using them for nefarious ends. Making sure that all of your devices are secured is an excellent way to do your part as DDoS attacks continue to surface.
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