How DDoS Attacks Work and How You Can Protect Your Business From Them – Source: securityboulevard.com

Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks continue to evolve at an alarming pace. According to Statista, organizations in the Asia-Pacific region experienced a 260% increase in DDoS attacks from 2022 to 2023⁽¹⁾. The Americas saw a 196% surge. These are not simple attacks: 56% of DDoS attacks on AWS customers were sophisticated application layer attacks⁽²⁾. The financial sector is a prime target. It accounted for 30% of all DDoS attacks in 2023, followed by healthcare at 14.2%⁽³⁾.

These statistics paint a clear picture: DDoS attacks are becoming more frequent, more sophisticated, and more targeted across critical industries. This article will explore the growing threat of DDoS attacks, examine different attack types, common tools used by attackers, and modern defense strategies to help you protect their websites, mobile apps, and APIs.

TLDR

• Traditional volumetric DDoS protection is no longer enough. Most modern attacks now target application logic rather than raw bandwidth.
• Small, stealthy attacks from single sources often cause more damage than massive botnet attacks, because they fly under the radar.
• Many organizations’ CDN and WAF protections have a significant blind spot when it comes to Layer 7 DDoS detection.
• The distinction between DDoS attacks and malicious bot activity is blurring as attack tools become more sophisticated.

What are DoS and DDoS attacks?

Denial-of-Service attacks (DoS) and Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks represent deliberate attempts to disrupt normal online services by overwhelming them with traffic. While DoS attacks originate from a single source, DDoS attacks use multiple compromised machines (often forming a botnet) to launch coordinated attacks.

The key difference lies in their scale and complexity:

• DoS attacks use a single machine and are generally easier to identify and block
• DDoS attacks use multiple sources, making them harder to mitigate
• Modern DDoS attacks often combine multiple attack vectors
• Cyberattacks can target different layers of the network stack simultaneously

How are DDoS attack categories defined?

A DDoS threat can be categorized into several distinct types based on its targeting and methodology:

Volumetric attacks

Volumetric attacks are the most straightforward type of DDoS attack. They are designed to overwhelm network bandwidth with a HTTP flood that generates massive amounts of traffic. These attacks are typically measured in gigabits per second (Gbps) and aim to consume all available bandwidth, preventing legitimate traffic from reaching the target.

The sheer volume of traffic can quickly overwhelm network infrastructure, making these attacks particularly dangerous for organizations without adequate bandwidth capacity.

Protocol attacks

Protocol attacks specifically target network layer protocols, exploiting weaknesses in Layer 3 and Layer 4 of the OSI model. These attacks often use TCP SYN floods or similar techniques to exhaust server resources by initiating but never completing connection requests. By consuming server resources with incomplete connections, protocol attacks can render services unavailable even with relatively modest amounts of malicious traffic.

In DNS amplification attacks, attackers exploit vulnerable DNS servers to generate massive amounts of traffic directed at the target. A smurf attack exploits the ICMP protocol by spoofing the victim’s IP address and broadcasting ICMP ping requests to multiple computers, all of which then flood the target with responses.

Application layer attacks

Application layer attacks represent the most sophisticated category of DDoS attacks. They target Layer 7 of the OSI model, where legitimate web requests occur. These attacks are particularly challenging to defend against, because they mimic normal user behavior and can bypass traditional DDoS protection measures.

By focusing on exhausting application resources rather than network bandwidth, these attacks can be effective even with relatively low traffic volumes. They often target specific application functionalities, making them harder to distinguish from legitimate traffic.

Common DDoS attack tools and methods

Attack tools have evolved to become highly sophisticated instruments of disruption. Unlike simpler flooding tools, these weapons in a hacker’s arsenal are specifically engineered to exploit how web applications process and respond to requests. They often target specific endpoints or functionalities that are resource-intensive for the application to process.

Key characteristics include:

• Sophisticated traffic patterns that mimic real users
• Ability to bypass traditional rate limiting
• Focus on exploiting business logic rather than pure volume
• Often combined with bot networks for distributed attacks

Several tools are used in DDoS attacks, each with specific capabilities:

Low and slow tools

Low and slow attack tools represent a particularly insidious approach to DDoS attacks. These tools are designed to maintain long-term connections with the target server while using minimal bandwidth to avoid detection.

By gradually consuming server resources through sustained, low-intensity connections, these tools can effectively degrade service availability without triggering traditional volumetric attack alarms. Their effectiveness often doesn’t require a distributed network, making them particularly dangerous as they can be deployed from a single source.

Flood attack tools

Flood attack tools are designed to generate massive volumes of traffic targeting multiple protocols simultaneously. These tools can launch attacks using TCP, UDP, and ICMP protocols, often incorporating traffic amplification techniques to maximize their impact.

When used in distributed attacks, flood tools can generate traffic volumes that overwhelm even well-provisioned networks. Their effectiveness lies in their ability to consume network resources through sheer volume, making them a persistent threat to network infrastructure.

Application-specific tools

Application-specific attack tools are sophisticated instruments designed to target particular applications or services by exploiting application-layer protocols. These tools can generate requests that appear legitimate to standard cybersecurity measures, making them particularly difficult to distinguish from normal traffic.

By focusing on specific application vulnerabilities or business logic flows, these tools can achieve significant disruption with relatively modest resource requirements. Their ability to mimic legitimate user behavior makes them especially challenging to detect and mitigate.

Modern defense strategies against DDoS attacks

DDoS attack prevention requires a multi-layered approach:

Traffic analysis and filtering

Advanced traffic analysis systems use algorithms to continuously monitor network traffic patterns in real-time. These systems use machine learning and behavioral analysis to establish baseline patterns of normal traffic and quickly identify anomalies that could indicate an attack. Next-generation firewalls play an important role here, going beyond simple packet filtering to provide deep packet inspection and application-level filtering.

By analyzing multiple traffic characteristics simultaneously, these systems can distinguish between legitimate traffic spikes and malicious activity. This sophisticated analysis enables organizations to respond to threats before they can impact service availability.

Rate limiting and traffic shaping

Intelligent rate limiting has evolved beyond simple request counting to become a nuanced defense mechanism. Modern systems implement context-aware rate limiting that considers factors such as user behavior patterns, historical traffic data, and application-specific requirements.

Traffic shaping techniques prioritize legitimate user requests while managing suspicious traffic through sophisticated queuing mechanisms. These systems can dynamically adjust resource allocation based on current traffic patterns and threat levels, ensuring optimal performance for genuine users even during attack attempts.

Advanced protection solutions

Modern solutions like DataDome’s DDoS Protect offer effective DDoS mitigation:

• Real-time L7 DDoS protection blocking sophisticated attacks in under 2 milliseconds
• Seamless business continuity to ensure that critical services remain available
• Enhanced visibility with detailed attack analytics
• Automated, hands-free cybersecurity that requires minimal manual intervention

“By blocking attacks, DataDome has made us less of a target for those attacks. That’s a success. And if a new type of bot does get through, the team is always available to respond and adjust. That’s a big success,” said an e-commerce Product Owner who implemented DataDome’s DDoS Protect.

The future of DDoS protection

As DDoS attacks continue to evolve, traditional security measures are no longer sufficient. Organizations need comprehensive, automated solutions that can detect and respond to threats in real-time while maintaining service availability for legitimate users.

Key takeaways for modern DDoS protection:

• Implement multi-layered defense strategies
• Focus on real-time detection and response
• Ensure protection across all application layers
• Maintain visibility into attack patterns and trends
• Deploy automated response capabilities

With solutions like DataDome’s DDoS Protect, organizations can stay ahead of emerging threats while ensuring business continuity and optimal performance for legitimate users. Book a live product demo of DataDome’s DDoS Protect today to see how it works.