A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is defined as an illegal attempt to render a website unavailable by overloading its server with massive amounts of fake traffic. The flood of nefarious connection requests forces legitimate visitors to the back of a long line that never eases up, and their requests often times out.

A DDoS attack can disrupt servers, networks, databases, mobile devices – anything attached to the internet.

What Happens During a DDoS Attack?

A DDoS attack starts when a series of IoT (Internet of Things) devices are compromised. Each targeted device becomes infected with malware. This malware connects a network of infected devices, which is then controlled remotely by the hackers. A botnet can grow to become a global network if the attack is not stopped. Malicious requests will keep piling up, and if they’re all pointed at a single target, server RAM and CPU reserves will not be able to handle the demand.

There are three general categories of DDoS attacks:

  1. Volume-Based DDoS Attacks: A volume-based attack aims an overwhelming amount of traffic at web resources. The size of these attacks is measured in Bits per second (Bps). Volume-based attacks include ICMP flood attacks, UDP flood attacks, and other spoofed packet attacks.
  2. Protocol or Network-Layer DDoS Attacks: Protocol or network-layer DDoS attacks direct the high-volume traffic at management tools and network infrastructures. The magnitude of these attacks is measured in packets per second (PPS). These types of attacks include SYN floods and Smurf DDoS attacks.
  3. Application Layer Attacks: During an Application Layer DDoS attack, also known as a layer 7 (L7) attack, the top layer of the OSI model is the target.

Identifying This Type of Attack

The most obvious sign that you have been a victim of a DDoS attack is that your site or service suddenly becomes slow or unavailable. However, this symptom does not necessarily indicate a DDOS attack on its own. There are many potential causes — such a legitimate increase in traffic — that can result in similar performance problems. A traffic analytics tool can help your IT team to identify some of these unmistakable signs of a DDoS attack:

  • Suspicious levels of traffic originating from a single IP address or IP range
  • A flood of traffic from users who all exhibit the same behavioral profile, device type, geolocation, or version of a web browser
  • An unexplained rise in requests to a single endpoint or page
  • Strange traffic patterns, such as spikes at random hours of the day or unnatural patterns that don’t seem to make sense (such as a spike every 6 minutes.) An IT management or managed services professional can help you identify any additional specific indications of a DDoS attack. These indicators may vary depending on the type of attack that is taking place.

    Managed Services Can Help Prevent DDoS Attacks

    When you partner with a managed services firm, they can take over and manage your cybersecurity efforts. Through advanced monitoring and business continuity protocols, a professional team of experts can watch for signs of trouble, identify anything suspicious, and stop the criminals in their tracks.

    To learn more about cybersecurity protection and all of the other services that Alliance IT can provide to your Sarasota SMB, call our team today.