Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks can be seemingly innocuous as they don’t usually involve a breach of data or money. Though, from the victim’s perspective DDoS attacks can cause almost irreparable damages. Like all other cyber attacks, DDoS attacks have always caused devastating affects to targets. From attacks on individual websites to targeting large organizations’ infrastructure, cybercriminals have leveraged DDoS attacks in a plethora of ways. Even today, despite all the security in place, DDoS attacks are evolving with more maliciousness and a larger radius of targets.
DDoS Attacks Evolving Further
The use of botnets is already known for conducting DDoS attacks on various web apps, attackers simply scan for vulnerable devices and takeover them stealthily. They can then use these infected devices (including smartphones and PCs) to barrage the victim with malicious traffic.
Below we quickly list some recent trends depicting the evolution of DDoS.
Botnets Targeting IoT
Today, DDoS attacks have evolved to the extent of targeting the Internet-of-Things (IoT) too. It means, hackers can now infect any gadget connected to the internet other than PCs and mobile phones. For instance, hackers may target a smart bulb, fridge, microwave, TV, or even a hair dryer, all without the knowledge and consent of the respective device’s owner. Then can turn these devices into infected bots to create a botnet.
A classic tool for conducting such DDoS attacks is the Torii botnet. It can wage persistent attacks with a greater range of IoT devices.
Advanced Persistent Denial-of-Service Attacks
Another evolution of DDoS attack is in their target impact. From distributed denial-of-service, these attacks have emerged to become Advanced Persistent Denial-of-Service (APDoS). While managed DDoS protection tools significantly fend off DDoS, they may sometimes fail against APDoS attacks.
With APDoS, the attackers target the core IT applications of the target organization, such as databases and servers. With such attacks, hackers may also target related structures of the target such as ISPs and cloud services.
Integration With Machine Learning And AI
Apart from IoT, attackers are also looking for ways to couple DDoS with artificial intelligence and machine learning. Together with IoT devices, DDoS integrated with AI and ML can make detecting DDoS attacks more difficult.
How To Prevent DDoS Attacks
Despite advancements and evolution, organizations should still consider implementing IT security measures from the basic stage. This helps in preventing the most obvious attacks, at least.
For preventing DDoS attacks, the role of a Web Application Firewall (WAF) is undeniable. A WAF helps in avoiding DDOS attacks by blocking illegitimate requests.
Though, considering how DDoS attacks are evolving, organizations also need to employ other measures that minimize the chances of a successful DDoS. This includes the use of a CDN that supports DDOS protection such as Cloudflare.
For a solution, organizations may also consider hiring Fully Managed Security offering included in the Cloud WAF Product AppTrana from Indusface. These experts can help design robust security plans according to the firm’s IT structure to protect against cyber attacks.
