How to Prevent a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attack?

Imagine a bridge that takes you from one city to another over a body of water. When the bridge is clear, it’s easy for drivers to cross and get where they’re going. However, if there’s too much traffic, there’s nowhere for anyone to go, causing major delays. This is exactly how a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack compromises a network.

By flooding a target network with enough malicious traffic, threat actors can actually force downtime, creating chaos among genuine users, denying service delivery to customers, and costing the organization both time and money. Understanding how DDoS attacks work and the prevention tools available to business leaders and decision-makers can help your organization avoid falling victim.

To gain a more in-depth understanding of how your cybersecurity strategies live up to industry standards and best practices, review DOT Security’s Cybersecurity Checklist: How Covered Is Your Business?

How Does a DDoS Attack Work?

A distributed denial of service attack is a coordinated cyber assault designed to overwhelm the target's systems, servers, or network with a flood of malicious, and typically fake traffic. This onslaught exhausts the target's resources, which prevent authentic users from accessing the system. DDoS attacks also substantially slow down websites, can prevent service delivery, and even cause a full system crash.

The attack typically begins with the creation of a "botnet," a network of compromised devices like computers, internet of things (IoT) gadgets, or servers infected with malicious software. These devices are controlled remotely by an attacker, often without their owners' knowledge. Once activated, the botnet floods the target with enormous volumes of traffic designed to clog up the servers.

DDoS attacks come in several forms. Volumetric attacks exhaust bandwidth by sending massive amounts of data, while protocol attacks exploit weaknesses in network layers, like TCP/IP, to disrupt communication. Application-layer attacks, on the other hand, target specific applications or services, often requiring fewer resources while still achieving devastating effects.

This orchestration of chaos makes DDoS attacks difficult to stop. With traffic coming from thousands—or even millions—of distributed sources, distinguishing legitimate users from attackers becomes a nearly-impossible task.

What Are Boosters and Stressors?

In the context of a DDoS attack, boosters and stressors are tools and services that amplify the attack's efficacy, making them more disruptive and harder to mitigate. These components are key elements in the arsenal of cybercriminals, enabling them to scale their attacks to unprecedented levels with minimal effort.

Boosters serve as amplifiers. They take a small amount of malicious traffic and multiply it significantly by exploiting vulnerable systems.

For example, an attacker may use open DNS resolvers or misconfigured servers to launch amplification attacks. A single request to these systems is designed to trigger a much larger response directed at the victim, flooding their network with an overwhelming volume of traffic. This tactic is common in volumetric attacks, where the goal is to completely and totally exhaust bandwidth.

Stressors, on the other hand, are tools or platforms designed to test the resilience of networks and systems under heavy loads. Originally intended for legitimate purposes, such as performance testing by developers, these services have been co-opted or mimicked by attackers.

As such, malicious actors use stressors to simulate intense traffic, but instead of testing their own infrastructure, they target unsuspecting victims. These services are often marketed in underground forums as "DDoS-for-hire" platforms, making it disturbingly easy for anyone to launch an attack for a fee.

Together, boosters and stressors amplify the scale and accessibility of DDoS attacks, fueling the rise of these disruptive cyber threats.

The Global DDoS Economy

The black market economy for DDoS attacks thrives on accessibility, anonymity, and demand. At the core of these operations are DDoS-for-hire services. These platforms allow individuals—ranging from experienced hackers to technical amateurs—to launch DDoS attacks against targeted websites or networks for a fee.

These services often operate under the guise of legitimate network stress testing but openly advertise their malicious capabilities on underground forums and marketplaces.

Payment is typically made using cryptocurrency, adding a layer of anonymity for both buyers and sellers. Packages vary by attack size, duration, and complexity, with prices ranging from as little as $10 for a brief, low-volume attack to thousands of dollars for sustained, high-impact assaults. Some services even offer subscription models, providing ongoing attack capabilities to regular customers.

This low barrier to entry and minimal technical expertise required have fueled the growth of the illicit cybercriminal economy, making DDoS attacks more prevalent and accessible than ever.

The Role of 24/7 Network Monitoring

24/7 network monitoring plays a critical role in both the proactive prevention and mitigation of DDoS attacks by providing constant visibility into a network's traffic and behavior. This continuous oversight allows organizations to detect anomalies in real-time, such as sudden spikes in traffic or unusual patterns that may indicate an impending attack.

Early detection is key because it gives security teams a chance to activate defensive measures—like rerouting traffic through scrubbing centers or deploying rate-limiting rules—before the attack fully disrupts services.

Beyond detection, network monitoring helps minimize the impact of active DDoS attacks. By analyzing incoming traffic, monitoring systems can distinguish between legitimate users and malicious traffic. This enables automated defenses, such as firewalls or intrusion prevention systems, to filter out harmful data while ensuring uninterrupted service for genuine users.

Continuous monitoring also generates valuable data for post-attack analysis, helping organizations strengthen their defenses and prepare for future threats. Without this vigilance, DDoS attacks are far more likely to catch businesses off guard, resulting in costly downtime and reputational damage.

Preventing DDoS Attacks

Preventing DDoS attacks requires a proactive and layered approach to cybersecurity. Organizations can start by strengthening their network infrastructure, ensuring it is resilient against high volumes of traffic. This includes deploying firewalls, intrusion prevention systems (IPS), and load balancers that can identify and block malicious traffic before it reaches critical systems.

Using content delivery networks (CDNs) or cloud-based DDoS protection services adds another layer of defense. These platforms distribute traffic across multiple servers, making it harder for attackers to overwhelm a single target.

Keeping software and hardware up to date is also critical, as vulnerabilities in outdated systems are prime targets for attackers.

Lastly, partnering with a managed security service provider (MSSP) or a DDoS mitigation specialist ensures access to expert support and resources, providing an extra safeguard against evolving threats. By combining these strategies, organizations can significantly reduce their risk of falling victim to a DDoS attack.

Wrapping Up on Distributed Denial of Service Attacks

The world of cybercrime is ever-evolving and ever-expanding, putting the onus on business leaders and decision-makers to take cybersecurity into their own hands. This includes understanding how specific threats, like a distributed denial of service attack, can impact your operations and your bottom line.

Implementing 24/7 network monitoring that allows you visibility over network traffic and cloud-based DDoS prevention tools will protect your network and mitigate DDoS attacks in real time. By keeping your network free of malicious traffic, authentic users should have no issue accessing systems and customers can rest assured they’ll be taken care of in full.

For more information on building a layered cybersecurity strategy that meets industry best practices, review DOT Security’s Cybersecurity Checklist: How Covered Is Your Business?