Denial of Service (DoS) Attack

A Denial of Service (DoS) attack is a cyberattack designed to disrupt the normal operation of a system, network, or service by overwhelming it with excessive traffic or resource requests. The goal is to make the target unreachable for legitimate users.

Types of DoS Attacks

Volumetric Attacks – Overloading the target with massive amounts of traffic to exhaust bandwidth (e.g., UDP Flood, ICMP Flood).

Protocol Attacks – Exploiting weaknesses in network protocols to deplete server resources (e.g., SYN Flood, Ping of Death).

Application Layer Attacks – Bombarding specific applications with excessive requests to slow or crash services (e.g., HTTP Flood).

A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is a more sophisticated form of DoS where multiple compromised devices (botnets) coordinate to attack a single target.

Impact of DoS Attacks

Service Disruptions – Prevents users from accessing websites, applications, or networks.

Financial Losses – Downtime can lead to lost revenue and operational costs.

Reputation Damage – Customers and users may lose trust in the affected organization.

Security Costs – Extra resources are required for mitigation and prevention.

Prevention and Mitigation Strategies

- Traffic Filtering – Firewalls and intrusion detection systems (IDS) help block malicious traffic.

- Rate Limiting – Limits the number of requests per user to prevent excessive load.

- Load Balancing – Distributes traffic across multiple servers to reduce strain.

- DDoS Protection Services – Cloud-based solutions like Cloudflare, AWS Shield, and Akamai can absorb attacks.

- Real-Time Monitoring – Detecting unusual traffic patterns helps respond to threats quickly.