What is a DDoS attack?

The harmful effect of DDoS attacks on TV5 and many other platforms remains in everyone's memory. A denial of access to services for users and millions in lost revenue for companies. These consequences are so appalling that one could not fail to try to understand how it works.

What is a DDoS attack?

The DDoS theme is an abbreviation of the English phrase "denial of service". It is a widespread and easy-to-implement form of hacking, as explained in this article that discusses the Top cybersecurity challenges. It involves overwhelming a machine or network with large waves of momentary requests. The obvious goal of this attempt is to disable the machine or at least prevent its optimal performance. This type of attack can be very dangerous, especially since it can last for several days. It can therefore create very significant damage to companies as well as the beneficiaries of their service.

How does a DDoS attack work?

In practice, a DDoS attack is orchestrated from several machines located in different corners of the world. The network that these machines form is called a botnet and can be used for both a DDoS attack and other forms of hacking. To set up such a harmful device, cybercriminals use "malware" software. This is a kind of virus whose purpose is to take control of computers by detecting their login and password. With this information, the hacker can run programs on the machine remotely without the owner's knowledge. In the case of a DDoS attack, he directs the traffic of his distributed network to a single platform at the same time. However, every website and every application has a request limit written into its code.