What is DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) Attack ?

A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal functioning of a computer network, service, or website by overwhelming it with a flood of internet traffic. In a DDoS attack, multiple compromised computers, often referred to as "bots" or "zombies," are coordinated to send a massive amount of traffic to the target system, overwhelming its capacity to handle legitimate requests.

The objective of a DDoS attack is to exhaust the target's resources, such as bandwidth, processing power, or memory, rendering the system slow, unresponsive, or completely unavailable to legitimate users. These attacks typically target websites, online services, or network infrastructure.

There are various types of DDoS attacks, including :

1. Volumetric Attacks : These attacks aim to flood the target's network or website with a high volume of traffic, consuming its available bandwidth and network resources.
2. TCP State-Exhaustion Attacks : These attacks exploit vulnerabilities in the TCP/IP protocol stack to exhaust system resources such as concurrent connections, causing the target to become unresponsive.
3. Application Layer Attacks : These attacks target specific applications or services by sending a high volume of malicious requests, overwhelming the server's ability to respond to legitimate traffic.
4. DNS Amplification Attacks : In this type of attack, the attacker exploits misconfigured DNS servers to amplify the volume of traffic directed at the target, causing a significant impact on its resources.

DDoS attacks can be executed using botnets, which are networks of compromised computers or Internet of Things (IoT) devices controlled by the attacker. By leveraging the combined power of numerous devices, attackers can generate an immense amount of traffic to launch a DDoS attack.

DDoS attacks can have severe consequences, including financial losses, reputational damage, and disruption of services for individuals, organizations, or even entire networks. Protecting against DDoS attacks typically involves implementing security measures such as traffic filtering, rate limiting, and using specialized DDoS mitigation services or hardware to identify and block malicious traffic.