In todays world, no one is safe from attacks; these attacks are even more dangerous when talking about your online data. The information on a website is very important, and it needs to be secured. For that purpose, you need to have a secure host to make sure no one is reaching your important data. If by any chance, hackers succeed in hacking your information, then your website is under attack, and you will lose all your users. There is no way to bring back a healthy website once it is under attack. You have to start all over again, which is not budget-friendly. The most common types of attacks on servers are DOS and DDOS attacks. In this article, we will learn some very important information about distributed denial of service attacks (DDOS). Keep scrolling down the article to unleash some very important and necessary facts about DDOS attacks on websites and servers. Top 3 Essentials You Need To Know About DDOS It is very important that your websites and the servers on which you keep your data are secure. Any attacks on these elements could bring all of your websites down and result in huge losses. That is why there are some factors that you need to know about web hosts while letting them have your information and data on their servers. These servers are prone to risks and attacks from hackers. Following are the most important things that you need to know about DDOS attacks on servers. 1. Signs of DDOS attack DDOS attacks are not some kind of physical attacks on your websites that can be seen easily. These attacks include different types of software and programs to achieve the goal. Website owners need to familiarize themselves with these attacks and their signs. One of the signs that show your website and server is under attack is the website's speed. If your website is slowing down and the server is bombarded with too many requests, then it is time you take strict actions. 2. Types of DDOS attack Depending upon the type and nature of the attack, there are different segments of server attacks. These attacks either aim to slow down the server or their aim is to crash it. Some of the attacks are intended to disrupt the flow of packets. Every information between a website and a server is in the form of encrypted data packets. These packets are fragmented into equal sizes, which are then decoded at the end once all the packets are gathered. But with these attacks available, the access of these packets to the destination becomes difficult. Following are some very common types of attacks on the web server. a) Volume-based attacks Every user is assigned a specific bandwidth, and the packets move through these available and given bandwidths. When the number of users for a website increases, the bandwidths for each user decrease. Hackers with the intention to slow the websites and servers hot it with too many requests, thus affecting the bandwidths. The magnitude of this attack is measured in bits per second (BPS). b) Protocol-based attacks The data over the internet is communicated with the help of packets. These packets are fragmented into small sizes, and each of these is reassembled at the destination. Hackers attempt to disrupt this communication by attacking these fragments, and the message or the communication between the server and user is incomplete. Either the server or the user will get incomplete information. c) Application layer attacks There are seven different layers in the OSI model. And one of the top layers is the application layer. This layer is responsible for the connection of the user and web server through an application. This layer is responsible for the communication of the user with the web server taking requests and answering these requests. The aim of the attack is to crash the server with consecutive requests. We measure the magnitude of this attack in requests per second (RPs) 3. Purpose of DDOS attacks Every website has a purpose behind it. These vary from one hacker to different as each of them attacks the website or the server with a different intention. It is totally impossible to know these intentions before your website is under attack. These hackers show or share their purpose once they succeed in attacking the website. The following are some very common intentions and purposes for which hackers attack your websites and servers. a) Ransom requests Threatening the website owners and asking for ransom is one of the most common purposes of the attackers. These hackers tend to have access to the most critical information of any website and threaten to share it with competitors. These ransom requests are very common with governmental institutions that have websites and contain very important data. b) Hacktivism There is no certain financial aim behind attacking a website in this method. The only reason to attack several websites in hacktivism is to spread a message over different sites. These hackers might be working on a challenge, and they may bring down a website to prove to the challengers that they have achieved their goal. c) Hacking interests With the increase in technology, the number of people taking an interest in the working of these technologies has increased. Usually, the young generation is more into hacking sites and servers. It is because these generations are keen to know the working of the malicious acts and their outcomes. Hacking has become the interest of many, and these interests have created many difficulties for websites. Keep your websites safe from these attacks! Once your website is under attack, there is no way you can undo it. All your data will be shared, and your business may fail. For avoiding such situations, you must make sure that the hosts on which you have your information and data are secured, and there are no threats of someone attacking your data. Make sure you look for trustworthy web hosts to ensure the safety of your data and reputation.
