How to Secure your Computer from DDoS Attack

Just recently, services of on-line companies Paypal, MasterCard and Amazon were disrupted by distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. Clients were not able to access their sites on their computers for several hours.

Not only can any website be susceptible to DDoS attacks. Even your home personal computer could also fall victim. You may not be able to open your e-mails, access any website and make transactions to your on-line accounts.

HOW DOES A DDOS ATTACK WORKS

The basic method used in a denial-of-service attack is as old as the Internet itself. Originally, the attack is made by a single person or network. But lately it has transformed into a distributed-denial-of-service attacks (DDoS) which can now involve computers from networks all over the world. It thus makes the attack greater in magnitude and more difficult to stop.

To make a DDoS attack, an attacker sends a large amount of fake request to the server or computer of the target website. By flooding the site with so many junk requests, it would effectively block the legitimate requests from coming through, thus, they would be denied of service by that site they are trying to access. Also, with so many requests coming from a non existing IP address, the server could slow down or even crash.

GROWING INTENSITY OF ATTACK

According to a report from Arbor Networks, a security firm which provide anti-DDoS technologies to about 75% of the world's Internet providers and operators, there were 5,000 confirmed DDoS attacks in 2010 in which the peak sustained rate hit 49Gbps.

For a 10+Gbps range of sophisticated application DDoS attack, it may require a specialized, high speed infrastructure to detect and mitigate.

In a survey of 132 network operators and telecommunication providers, Arbor Networks found out those denial-of-service attacks is now the top day to day security challenge facing these companies.

In 2001 DDoS attacks peaked at 400 Mbps compared to the attack hit range of 50 Gbps in 2 010. This means that year after year from 2001 the peak DDoS attack rates doubles.

BLOCKING A DDOS ATTACK

If your network is already under a DDoS attack there are 3 options you can do:

1.) Filtering- You can easily detect and filter most DDoS attacks by training routers at the edge of the network to spot and drop DDoS connections, preventing the slowing down of your server or network.

2.) Moving- Most often the DDoS attack is targeted at a specific IP address. What you need to do is to move the site to another IP address on the same network. By doing this you can already escape the attack.

3.) Blackholing- Some web host companies make a desperate move by "blackholing" a site being DDoS-ed attack. This is done by directing all traffic to that site to an address that doesn't exist so that the flood does not impact other sites on the server or network.

Another way to secure a website from DDoS attack is to hire a security firm to provide your network anti-DDoS infrastructure. Arbor Networks is a leader in anti-DDoS technology providing for several Internet operators and telecommunications around the world.

Kaspersky, a renowned security firm recently announced they will sell their currently experimental denial-of-service (DoS) attack protection service globally, if it proves successful.