What are DoS and DDoS Attacks & How to Prevent Them?

Are you a business owner and have a fully functioning website online? Then you must understand ways related to DoS and DDoS Attacks protection and Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, in general, to stay protected from them. 

To overwhelm a server’s capacity, a denial-of-service attack (DoS) sends an excessive number of requests to a specific URL. As a result, regular website traffic will be significantly delayed or even halted during the attack period.

One of the most common DoS attacks is known as a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS). DDoS attacks often use tens of thousands (or even hundreds of thousands) of zombie machines that have no idea they’re being targeted. Botnets are networks of compromised computers that a cybercriminal may remotely control. They are commonly employed in denial-of-service attacks. Research suggests that tens of millions of computers throughout the world are likely to be infected with botnets.

The following information will be helpful for websites for small businesses and many other web admins. This information also will help you in preventing a DoS attack on your website and personal information. 

Dos VS DDoS

While a DoS is a system-on-system attack, a DDoS involves multiple systems attacking a single system, which is the primary distinction between the two. There are, however, several other differences, such as the following:

1. Detection and mitigation are simplified because a DoS originates from a single point, making it easy to cut off the source of the problem. A good firewall can accomplish this. On the other hand, a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack originates from several remote places, making it difficult to identify its source.
2. It is significantly easier to deploy a DDoS attack than a DoS attack originating from a single place. A faster attack means that seeing it will be more difficult, resulting in more damage or perhaps a catastrophic conclusion.
3. Multiple distant machines (zombies or bots) are used in a DDoS assault. Thus much traffic can be sent from multiple locations at once, making it difficult to detect.
4. Multiple hosts infected with malware are brought together to form a botnet controlled remotely by a command-and-control server (C&C). A DoS assault, on the other hand, is often carried out using a script or a program that is run on a single machine.
5. In a DDoS attack, the true origin is far more difficult to trace than in a DoS attack because a botnet is used.

What Are the Types of DoS and DDoS Attacks?

For the sake of understanding DDoS prevention, let’s discuss the different types of DoS vs. DDoS attacks. 

• A Teardrop Attack 

A denial-of-service (DoS) attack known as a “teardrop” transmits a massive amount of Internet Protocol (IP) data to a target network. The network is unable to recompile the fragments into their original packets when it attempts.

• A Flooding Attack 

Flocking attacks are when repeated connection requests are sent to the server, but no response is received to complete the handshake, resulting in a denial of service (DoS).

• IP Fragmentation Attack 

Any network that receives packets from an IP fragmentation attack will be unable to reassemble them. Bulky, unassembled packets clog the network, consuming all of its resources.

Here is a list of all the other types of attacks: 

• Volumetric Attack 
• Protocol Attack 
• Application-based Attack 

Ways to Prevent DoS and DDoS Attacks

1. Use a good VPN to protect yourself from all such attacks. A VPN will ensure that any user or external computer connecting to your server or website is going through a protective server layer and is being vetted out. In addition, a VPN comes with a site unblocker as well and will ensure that you can access any security website online, despite its location. Use a good and strong VPN like VeePN to give your website an added layer of protection; if you want to learn about the rest of VPN benefits, click for more information and go to the site. You have to remember that cybersecurity and data protection is important.
2. To keep track of usual traffic patterns, it’s important to keep an eye on your network at all times.
3. Simulate denial-of-service (DoS) attacks and use the results to analyze risk, uncover weaknesses, and educate personnel on cybersecurity best practices.
4. Assemble a team, set response parameters and install protection, and create checklists for each process step.
5. Plan for protection by identifying essential systems and usual traffic patterns and using that information to spot potential risks early on. This will assist the network deal with traffic spikes and decrease any attack’s impact, but it will not stop it.

DDoS protection and knowing how to prevent a DoS attack are two sure-fire ways of protecting yourself from attacks online. Imagine running a successful online business and only to find out one day that you have lost on potential business because your website was down due to a DoS or DDoS attack. It’s horrific, right? 

So this is why you need to keep a strong eye on your networks all the time, make sure that there is no suspicious traffic reaching your networks and there is no abnormal activity that you see. The best way to sleep peacefully, knowing that your years’ worth of life and effort is safe, you need to use a good VPN and site unblocker and make sure you are using the best protection tools available to you.

Check out: How to Protect Your Network Against IP Spoofing?