Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) is a cyberattack aimed at overwhelming a target’s network, service, or website with a flood of internet traffic, rendering it unavailable to legitimate users. Attackers use multiple compromised systems, often part of a botnet, to generate excessive traffic.
DDoS attacks can cause significant disruptions, financial losses, and reputational damage. They exploit various vulnerabilities and target different layers of the network stack, including volumetric attacks (flooding the network with traffic), protocol attacks (exploiting weaknesses in network protocols), and application layer attacks (targeting specific applications).
Mitigating DDoS attacks requires a multi-layered defense strategy. Network infrastructure should be designed with redundancy and high capacity to absorb traffic surges. Traffic analysis tools and anomaly detection systems help identify and block malicious traffic. Cloud-based DDoS protection services can provide additional layers of defense.
Effective DDoS prevention involves continuous monitoring, regular updates to security infrastructure, and collaboration with internet service providers (ISPs) to mitigate large-scale attacks. Incident response plans should outline steps for detecting, responding to, and recovering from DDoS attacks.