After 20 years of prominence, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks may be causing more devastating effects than ever. The first DDoS attack occurred way back on July 22, 1999 when a network of 114 computers infected with a malicious script called Trin00 attacked a computer at the University of Minnesota, according to MIT Technology Review. The infected computers overwhelmed the university computer with bogus data packets, preventing it from handling legitimate requests.
The attack continued for two days and introduced a tactic that has been interrupting business services and websites ever since.
Denial-of-Service Attacks Block Legitimate Traffic
A denial-of-service (DoS) attack radiates from a single source and floods resources that serve genuine traffic. Preventing DoS at the network or infrastructure level typically depends on implementing firewall rules and an intrusion detection system (IDS). Once an attack is detected, the IDS blocks traffic from the suspicious source.
This approach is simple enough, and it’s often effective at shutting down cyberattackers. However, threat actors have upped their game with distributed denial-of-service attacks. The goal of these attacks is to shut down enterprise applications, extort money or claim bragging rights. With DDoS, the malicious traffic comes from multiple sources around the globe, all targeting one system or network. In these cases, firewalls and IDS solutions don’t know where to start to detect and block incidents.
What’s more, thanks to attackers’ creative use of both old tactics and new devices, the situation is getting worse. Hackers are continually developing variations on the DDoS theme, exploiting vulnerable people using tried-and-true tactics such as phishing, which st ..
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