What are the different types of ddos attacks ?

DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks are becoming increasingly common on the internet. To better understand this form of cybercrime, it is important to know the different types of DDoS attacks and their unique characteristics. This article therefore provides a brief overview of the various types of DDoS attacks and how they can affect businesses and online organizations.

Amplification attacks

When we talk about amplification attacks, it is an attack in which hackers use third-party servers to amplify the amount of traffic sent to a target. These cyberpunks send queries to domain name servers (DNS), NTP (Network Time Protocol) servers, or other servers to obtain a more voluminous response, which they then send to the target. This type of DDoS attack is particularly dangerous because it can be very powerful and cause significant disruptions. You must therefore protect your enterprise by contacting KoDDoS, for example, which is a company that is an expert in anti-DDoS solutions.

Application attacks

Another type of ddos attack is application attacks. That aim to disrupt a specific application. It can be banking or e-commerce applications. This kind of cyberattack is classified as one of the major categories of DDoS attacks. Hackers use vulnerabilities in the application to send malicious requests that can cause a denial of service. Application attacks are easy to perform, but they are more difficult to detect and prevent. They are also called layer 7 attacks.

HTTP attacks

These types of DDoS attacks are often used to steal information. They target web servers by sending multiple HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) page requests, which saturate the server's resources and make the site inaccessible to legitimate users. HTTP attacks can also be used to exploit vulnerabilities in web applications and steal sensitive information. This is why it is recommended to secure your platforms by ensuring that HTTP becomes HTTPS.

UDP attacks

UDP (User Datagram Protocol) attacks target UDP communication protocols to saturate a system's resources. The UDP protocol is often used for online games, voice over IP and streaming videos, making it an easy target for cyberpunks. UDP attacks are difficult to detect because they don’t require establishing a connection. Therefore, they can be launched from many different sources.

SYN attacks

SYN attacks are among the most frequently used DDoS attacks. They exploit a vulnerability in the TCP/IP protocol that allows a hacker to send multiple SYN connection requests to a server without ever responding. This has the effect of saturating the server's resources and makes connections for legitimate users impossible. SYN attacks are often referred to "SYN floods".

ICMP attacks

This type of DDoS attack consists of targeting routers and firewalls by saturating them with ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) packets. These are often used to diagnose network problems. In large numbers, they can cause resource saturation and service interruption. ICMP attacks are difficult to detect because they look like normal traffic. They are also known as ping or smurf attacks and are among those commonly used by hackers.
In conclusion, there are many different types of DDoS attacks, each with its own characteristics and vulnerabilities. They can be classified into various categories, including application attacks. Among these multiple forms of cybercrime, we can find DDoS attacks such as SYN attacks, HTTP attacks, or UDP attacks. It is therefore important for online businesses to protect themselves from these cyber-attacks by opting for appropriate solutions.