A Denial of Service (DoS) attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal functioning of a targeted server, service, or network by overwhelming it with a flood of internet traffic. This traffic flood is typically generated from a single source. These attacks can inflict significant damages by rendering targeted services unavailable, causing financial losses, disrupting business operations, and potentially leading to data breaches.

A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is an extension of a DoS attack, where the malicious traffic comes from multiple compromised computers, forming a botnet. This coordinated effort to overwhelm a target makes DDoS attacks more potent than traditional DoS attacks.

How to prevent DoS and DDoS attacks?

• Network Monitoring:

  • Regularly monitor network traffic for unusual patterns;
  • Detect and analyze sudden spikes in traffic that may indicate a DoS or DDoS attack.

• Load Balancers:

  • Distribute incoming traffic across multiple servers using load balancers;
  • Helps prevent overwhelming a single server and ensures service availability.

• Rate Limiting:

  • Implement rate-limiting mechanisms to restrict the number of requests a user or IP address can make within a specified time frame;
  • Reduces the impact of flooding attacks.