Cyber attacks are inevitable threats that have become part of the digital landscape. One of these malicious threats is the Denial-of-Service Attack or DoS Attack. DoS attacks are one of the most common tactics attackers execute to disrupt critical services or even cause financial losses.
What is a DoS attack?
A denial-of-service attack, or DoS attack, is a form of malicious cyber attack on devices, information systems, or a network that aims to paralyze normal operations by overwhelming the target with a flood of requests or traffic, making it unavailable to legitimate users.
How does a DoS attack work?
TCP/IP, short for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, is a set of rules that define how data is transmitted over the Internet. These protocols ensure organized and efficient data communication between devices. DoS attacks exploit these TCP/IP protocols by overwhelming the target system with requests or data, disrupting the normal flow of communication.
Impact of DoS attacks
DoS attacks can have many problematic implications for the system it’s targeting:
1. Disruption of service
When a system is flooded by requests from malicious actors due to a DoS attack, it can become overwhelmed. This leads to unwanted downtime, preventing legitimate users from accessing the service.
2. Financial loss
Downtime caused by DoS attacks can translate into significant revenue losses. If legitimate users can’t access a service due to a DoS attack-induced outage, this hinders them from engaging in activities that generate income for the attacked organization.
3. Damage of reputation
Successful DoS attacks can easily translate to vulnerability and susceptibility of an organization’s IT system. This can cause their customers to lose trust, worrying that the organization can’t safeguard their data, which could damage the company’s reputation.
4. Wasted resources
DoS attacks disrupt standard IT workflow and require organizations to allocate resources to mitigate cyber-attacks. They could also temporarily cause an organization to abandon more critical areas of IT operations.
DoS vs DDoS
Denial-of-Service attacks (DoS attacks) and Distributed-Denial-of-Service attacks (DDoS attacks) both aim to disrupt a system by overloading it with traffic or data. The key difference is the source of the attack. A DoS attack originates from a single source, say a single computer.
On the other hand, a DDoS attack can come from multiple compromised devices. It often uses a network of hacked computers called a botnet to execute the attack. DDoS attacks are more sophisticated and can cause more significant threats than a DoS attack due to their ability to launch attacks using massive traffic volumes.
Conclusion
DoS attacks are malicious cyber attacks launched by bad actors to paralyze devices, information systems, or networks by overloading them with traffic or data. Understanding how DoS attacks work can help an organization’s IT team or service provider maintain cybersecurity best practices, build a defense, identify DoS attacks, and create a response and recovery plan to prevent such attacks in the future.
