Difference between DoS and DDoS attack

Social Media and online websites are the biggest sources of information in present times. An online business can market its products and services on websites, media houses, and government websites that can release information and news for the public. So, whenever something new happens people prefer visiting websites. But, with ease comes threats, cyber attack DoS and DDoS attack are made by people who either do not want the information to go out in public, or reduce the efficiency of certain services for personal or political reasons. How do these attacks work? Let's find out.

Overview Of DoS and DDoS attack

DOS stands for Denial Of Service. It is a cyber attack that crowds a system or a website with multiple requests and traffic which creates hurdles for real users to access the service or the website. In such attacks, attackers use one IP address to send this traffic which results in the crashing of the website or the whole system being paralyzed.

DDOS stands for Distributed Denial Of Service. Just like DOS it also sends traffic to a website/server making it difficult to access by real users. This attack unlike DOS uses multiple computers or a botnet to send traffic.

DDoS vs DoS: What Is The Difference?

DoS and DDoS attacks are the same and have similar impacts too. But there are a few differences between DOS and DDoS attack.

DDoS vs. DoS Attack Source

The major difference between DoS and DDoS attacks is their source. In DoS attacks usually one attacker is involved using one device for the attack while DDoS attacks may involve many attackers and these attacks come from different devices or botnets. DDoS attacks usually mask the identity of the attacker as multiple IP addresses are used.

DDoS vs. DoS Scale of Attack

DoS attacks are less complicated as the attacker only uses one device to send the traffic. These types of attacks are usually done on a small scale as not many devices or attackers are involved. DDoS attacks are usually done on a large scale, as different devices and different IP addresses are used. These attacks are more complicated for the DoS to execute and detect as well.

DDoS vs. DoS Speed and Duration

Denial Of Service attacks usually take longer to execute as all the traffic is coming from one source, it takes longer for the attacked service/website to slow down or get impacted while Distributed Denial Of Service attacks impact the attacked point faster as a lot of traffic is coming from multiple devices at the same time. So, the attack is somewhat instant and takes longer to resolve so it might impact the website for longer.

DDoS vs. DoS Mitigation Techniques

To mitigate a DoS attack you can either blocklist the IP address from where this malicious traffic is coming, use WAFs, or allocate your resources like CPU and bandwidth to absorb higher loads. DoS mitigation is easier than DDoS mitigation as to protect against DDoS attacks you need to use CDN to distribute traffic across multiple global servers, and then Anycast Network Routing can redirect traffic to multiple servers. Traffic Scrubbing is also a great way to filter traffic coming from different sources.

DDoS vs. DoS Impact

A DoS attack usually disrupts a specific server or network, with the impact limited to that area. The attack is localized and can be identified easily so the impact is not that high. The downtime is lesser and the loss isn't that much as compared to DDoS attacks which are global and have a severe impact on the target. Since they are hard to identify they take longer to resolve and might cause more damage.

DDoS vs. DoS Cost and Resources

Since a DoS attack is done from one computer it doesn't use a lot of resources for the attacker to attack. The attack is not that complicated so it takes fewer resources to resolve it, an IP block or WAF can do the job while DDoS attacks are more complicated and constant for attackers and they take more resources to resolve which takes up more cost than DoS.

Types Of DoS And DDoS

DDoS and DoS attacks are two attacks that target a server or a computer with overwhelming traffic. Here are different types of DoS and DDoS attacks.

Types of DoS

Here are the types of DOS attacks

Volume-Based Attacks: These attacks overwhelm the target with high amounts of traffic.

Example For DoS

• ICMP floods

• UDP floods

Examples For DDoS

• DNS Amplification:

• UDP Floods

Protocol Attacks: These attacks find loopholes in security protocols and cause resources to be consumed.

Example For DoS

• SYN floods

• Ping of Death

Example For DoS

• SYN/ACK Floods

• Fragmented Packet Attacks

Application Layer Attacks: Targets specific applications by sending requests that appear to be legitimate but they are designed to exhaust resources

Example For DoS

• HTTP floods

Examples For DDoS

• HTTP Floods

• Low-and-Slow Attacks

DoS Defence and Prevention

To prevent DoS these strategies and techniques will work.

• Rate Limiting: This technique lets you control the number of requests a server can handle per second, it will help you with data overload.

• IP Blacklisting: This helps you identify and block the IP address where this malicious traffic is coming from

• Firewalls and Web Application Firewalls (WAFs): It filters incoming traffic and blocks known attack patterns or abnormal requests.

• Resource Scaling: This technique adjusts server resources to handle increased traffic during an attack.

DDoS Defence and Prevention

To protect against DDoS these strategies and techniques can be used.

• CDN Deployment: The content delivery network distributes traffic across multiple servers globally, minimizing the load on any single point to avoid exhaustion at one point.

• Anycast Network Routing: This technique also routes incoming traffic to multiple servers in different locations which reduces the impact of the attack

• Traffic Scrubbing: It is a way to filter incoming data by removing malicious packets while allowing legitimate requests to pass through.

• Botnet Detection and Mitigation: It aids in identifying and neutralizing malicious botnet traffic before it could affect the target point

FAQs

How can you prevent DoS DDoS attack?

Yes! You can prevent DoS and DDoS attacks with firewalls, rate limiting, and traffic monitoring tools. CDNs, load balancers, and botnet detection systems can also help prevent DoS DDoS.

What is dos/ddos?

DoS and DDoS are two cyber attacks that attack a server, computer, or website with overwhelming traffic that slows down their service or causes the system to crash, DoS uses one computer to attack while DDoS uses different sources.

How to detect DoS and DDoS attacks?

DoS and DDoS attacks can be detected by monitoring for unusual spikes in traffic, sudden drops in network performance, or repeated connection requests from the same or multiple IP addresses.

Dos vs DDoS, both cyber attacks are ways of slowing down a website or a server which can have damaging effects on the website and take downtime to recover. To crash the website or delay its service is basically what these attackers want, this might be because of many reasons including a business rivalry, political reasons, or other criminal intents. It is better to use prevention strategies before the attack happens train your team and employ resources to fight such attacks on any scale.

For more insights on cyber security topics stay tuned to Virtual Codes Vault.