For those who are active in the field of Information Technology or are learning about computer networks, they must be familiar with the term Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attack.

 

Basically, a DDoS Attack is a cyber attack carried out by perpetrators who aim to temporarily block the blockchain network for its users by disrupting host services.

 

Now, to better understand what DDoS Attack is, starting from the types, the difference with DoS, the impact on business, to how DDoS Attack works in attacking websites, see the full review below.

 

 

What is DDoS Attack?

A DDoS Attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal traffic of a targeted server, service, or network by flooding the target or surrounding infrastructure with a flood of Internet traffic.

 

When a DDoS attack starts on one computer, it will spread to others within the same network, causing very serious failures.

 

This type of attack takes advantage of specific capacity limitations that apply to any network resource, such as the infrastructure that enables a company’s website.

 

Usually, the main goal of the attacker is to prevent the total normal functioning of that web resource. In the case of a website or application, you will not be able to access the site.

 

The attacker may also demand payment to stop the attack. In some cases, DDoS attacks may even be an attempt to defame or damage a competitor’s business.

 

Types of DDoS Attacks

There are various types of DDoS attacks, but hackers generally use the following three types of DDoS attacks, among others:

 

1. UDP Flood

 

The User Datagram Protocol (UDP) protocol is used to randomly flood ports on a remote. When the server can no longer handle the excessive port load, it will become unresponsive.

 

2. ICMP Flood

 

This attack works by flooding ICMP requests. The main focus is to drain the server’s bandwidth so that the website becomes unreachable.

 

3. SYN Flood

 

This technique is similar to ICMP, but uses SYN. This attack sends SYN requests to the server in large numbers and quickly. As a result, traffic is blocked and websites become unavailable.

 

Difference between DoS and DDoS

In addition to DDoS, it is also important to be aware of DoS as a form of cyberattack. Although DoS and DDoS techniques are similar, namely by flooding a server with fake traffic, there are differences between the two.

 

DoS attackers only need one computer and an internet connection. As a result, DoS attacks can be carried out more easily without requiring a large investment.

 

On the other hand, DDoS attackers utilize a widespread network of computers around the world. It takes many internet connections to stream the attack to the target server.

 

Another difference lies in the ability to block attacks. The source of a DoS attack can still be relatively easily blocked by the host server because abnormal traffic spikes can be easily detected.

 

However, DDoS attacks are more difficult to block as the traffic requests come from many different sources.

 

Impact of DDoS Attacks on Businesses

The following are some of the impacts of DDoS attacks on businesses that are important to know, including:

 

1. Customer Experience

 

When customers have difficulty accessing or find that your website is very slow or even inaccessible at all, it is likely that they will quickly turn to your competitors.

 

With easy access to the internet, customers have the option to find other alternatives easily and transact business with them rather than you.

 

2. Company Reputation

 

How would your customers or potential customers feel when they find that your website is inaccessible due to a DDoS attack?

 

Of course, they will feel anxious and have a strong reason not to do business with you anymore because they are worried that their personal information is not safe in the hands of your company.

 

3. Financial Loss

 

When customers are reluctant to do business with you, the result is a decline in sales. A drop in sales will have a huge impact on your business, from losing the ability to retain assets and talent, to the potential risk of bankruptcy.

 

Your company will not only lose revenue from decreased transactions, but also from the costs incurred to repair the impact of the DDoS attack.

 

Aside from being financially detrimental, it is also time-consuming as your system may be completely down during the repair process.

 

How DDoS Attacks Work

The way DDoS attacks work can vary and it depends on the techniques used by the perpetrators. There are at least three common DDoS attack techniques used by hackers to flood server or computer network traffic, including:

 

1. Request Flooding

 

This attack technique involves sending a large number of requests to flood the network. Users who have registered to a website may not be able to access it due to the excessive number of requests.

 

2. Traffic Flooding

 

This technique sends a large amount of data to stream internet network traffic. This makes it difficult for other users, both registered and unregistered, to access the website that is the target of the traffic flooding attack.

 

3. Changing the System Configuration

 

This attack technique is rarely used by hackers because it is more difficult to carry out. It involves modifying server settings or tampering with components within a website so that it becomes inaccessible.

 

 

Strategies to Prevent DDoS Attacks on Websites

To protect blockchain networks from DDoS attacks, security measures at the node and network level are required.

 

Regular audits address vulnerabilities, while redundant infrastructure and stress testing keep the network functioning even during attacks.

 

Here are some strategies to prevent DDoS attacks on websites that are important to know, including:

 

1. Improving Network Infrastructure

 

Make sure that your website is equipped with bandwidth capacity that can handle traffic spikes.

 

For this reason, it is important to know your website’s traffic levels first, then prepare additional bandwidth capacity that exceeds these needs as a precautionary measure.

 

However, keep in mind that this method only aims to extend the time you have to handle the attack.

 

2. Using Intrusion Detection and Prevention System (IDS/IPS)

 

Putting in place adequate defense mechanisms at the network level is important for protecting blockchain networks.

 

To identify and reduce the impact of DDoS attacks, firewalls and intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS) work well. A content delivery network (CDN) is also useful for spreading and absorbing attack traffic.

 

3. Implementing Load Balancing

 

Nodes must have sufficient storage, processing power, and network bandwidth to be resistant to DDoS attacks. Strong authentication methods and access control help protect network nodes.

 

Fully automated public Turing tests to distinguish between computers and humans (CAPTCHAs) are very useful to ensure only authorized users can send transaction requests and prevent bots from infiltrating the network.

 

As for load balancing, it helps in sharing traffic and reducing the effect of attacks at the node level.

 

4. Using a CDN (Content Delivery Network)

 

A CDN is useful for filtering out abnormal requests on your website, including requests that indicate a DDoS attack. Your website traffic becomes more balanced and the server is able to handle all requests because they have been filtered by the CDN.

 

How does it work? A CDN disperses traffic to various servers in different locations. This makes it difficult for hackers to find your website’s original server as a prime target for DDoS attacks.

 

5. Routine Audits and Stress Tests

 

To find and fix any vulnerabilities, a thorough audit of various aspects of the blockchain is important. This should include analyzing smart contracts, auditing the integrity of the blockchain data structure, and validating the consensus algorithm.

 

The fault resistance in the consensus mechanism must be strong enough to withstand attacks. Updating the code regularly is important to keep attackers at bay and improve security.

 

On the other hand, networks and systems should perform stress testing on the blockchain protocol regularly to evaluate its ability to withstand DDoS attacks. This will facilitate the timely detection of potential vulnerabilities, enabling network infrastructure improvements and defense mechanism upgrades.

 

DDoS on Blockchain Networks: Is it Possible?

According to cointelegraph.com, attacking a blockchain network with a DDoS attack is theoretically possible, though more difficult than targeting centralized systems like websites or servers.

 

Blockchain networks are inherently resistant to such attacks thanks to their decentralization. A blockchain operates as a distributed and decentralized ledger, functioning across a number of nodes responsible for transaction validation and processing as well as block creation.

 

Unlike traditional systems, there is no central control point in a blockchain network. Decentralization makes blockchain networks more difficult to attack because attackers have to deal with a wide array of nodes.

 

One way to disrupt the network is to flood the blockchain with spam transactions, which overwhelm the network and slow down transaction throughput, impeding the timely validation of legitimate transactions.

 

This leads to a queue of transactions from legitimate users in the mempool, a mechanism within blockchain nodes that stores unconfirmed transactions.

 

A famous example of a DDoS attack is the one on the Solana blockchain network, which caused 17 hours of downtime in September 2021.

 

During Grape Protocol’s decentralized exchange (IDO) offering on Solana-based DEX, Raydium, bots flooded the network with a transaction load of 400,000 per second, causing network congestion.

 

In addition, DDoS attacks can also target decentralized applications (DApps), which are applications built on the blockchain, rather than the blockchain network itself.

 

Cryptocurrency exchanges, which play a critical role in ensuring liquidity in blockchain-based ecosystems, are often victims of DDoS attacks, resulting in temporary service disruptions.

 

Impact of DDoS Attacks on Blockchain Networks

DDoS attacks can affect blockchain networks through flooding transactions and compromising smart contracts. The goal is to clog the network with fake transactions, slow it down, and in the worst case, make it stop operating.

 

The following is an explanation of the impact of DDoS attacks on blockchain networks that you need to know, among others:

 

1. Transaction Flood

 

Malicious actors can intentionally overload a blockchain network with a large number of transactions, disrupting its normal operation. Attackers will trigger a series of transaction requests, usually using automated scripts or specialized software.

 

The transactions resemble legitimate transactions but are designed to constrict the network. The attackers propagate these transactions to the nodes.

 

To achieve consensus, the network spreads transactions across multiple nodes, which work to process the transactions.

 

However, the number of incoming transactions suddenly overcomes their processing capacity.

 

Network traffic becomes congested and even legitimate transactions are delayed in the queue. This disruption can affect businesses, exchanges, and other services that rely on blockchain networks.

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2. Targeting Smart Contracts

 

Hackers can identify vulnerable smart contracts in a blockchain network and flood them with transaction requests.

 

These transactions contain forged instructions or excessive computations to exhaust the functionality of the contract and the underlying network.

 

Code execution in smart contracts becomes increasingly burdensome, causing unreasonable delays in transaction validation.

 

Since smart contracts are a key part of the blockchain, the impact of such an attack can spread throughout the network, affecting other smart contracts and transactions, disrupting critical operations and making services inaccessible to legitimate users.

 

3. Software Crashes

 

The core software in blockchain applications has built-in limitations regarding memory allocation and the number of transactions that can be processed in a block and stored in a mempool. When there is a spike in transactions, the software may behave unpredictably or even crash.

 

In addition, immutability is an inherent characteristic of blockchain transactions, meaning they cannot be changed once recorded in a block. This mechanism creates problems when transactions flood the network during an attack.

 

The network becomes overloaded with useless transactions, which may be far beyond the software’s ability to handle.

 

4. Node Failure

 

Nodes, which act as validators or miners, run core blockchain software on equipment that is resilient enough to handle rigorous requests.

 

When malicious actors stream large amounts of junk data in a DDoS attack, a node may run out of memory or processing power and crash. The failure of a node due to an attack will increase the pressure on other nodes in the network.

 

A blockchain network is essentially a composite of nodes where each receiving node keeps track of the blockchain status and disseminates information about transactions to other nodes.

 

A flood of fake transactions adversely affects the node architecture, slowing down the entire network or even pulling it down.

 

 

How to Prevent DDoS on a Blockchain Network

The following are some ways to prevent DDoS on blockchain networks that are important to know, namely:

 

1. Node-Level Security

 

Nodes must have sufficient storage, processing power, and network bandwidth to withstand DDoS attacks. Strong authentication methods and access control help protect network nodes.

 

Fully automated CAPTCHA tests are very useful to ensure only authorized users can send transaction requests and prevent bots from infiltrating the network.

 

On the other hand, load balancing helps in sharing traffic and reducing the effect of attacks at the node level.

 

2. Network-Level Protection

 

Putting in place adequate defense mechanisms at the network level is important for protecting blockchain networks. To identify and reduce the impact of DDoS attacks, firewalls and intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS) work well.

 

The content delivery network (CDN) is also useful to spread and absorb attack traffic.

 

3. Redundancy and Backup

 

Blockchain protocols and DApps need to have redundant network infrastructure and backup servers to ensure that the system continues to function even under attack.

 

Nodes located in various geographical locations can withstand DDoS attacks that are limited to a particular region.

 

4. Audit

 

To find and fix any vulnerabilities, a thorough audit of various aspects of the blockchain is essential. This should include analyzing smart contracts, auditing the integrity of the blockchain data structure, and validating the consensus algorithm.

 

The fault resistance in the consensus mechanism must be strong enough to withstand attacks. Updating the code regularly is important to keep attackers at bay and improve security.

 

Conclusion

 

To conclude, in an era where technology is evolving, understanding and preventing DDoS attacks is a very important aspect to consider.

 

Indeed, DDoS attacks can not only cause significant disruption to business operations and blockchain networks, but can also cause financial losses and damage a company’s reputation.

 

Therefore, it is important for organizations and users of blockchain networks to take proactive measures to protect themselves from potential DDoS attacks.

 

Measures such as implementing security measures at the node and network level, conducting regular audits to identify and fix vulnerabilities, and preparing redundant and backup infrastructure, can help reduce the risk of DDoS attacks.

 

 

 

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FAQ

 

1. What is DDoS attack?

 

A DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack is an attack in which an attacker uses multiple computers to flood a target server, system, or internet network with fake traffic, causing the service to become unavailable to legitimate users.

 

2. Can DDoS attacks happen on blockchain networks?

 

Yes, although more difficult, DDoS attacks can target blockchain networks by flooding transactions or targeting smart contracts.

 

3. What is the impact of a DDoS attack on a blockchain?

 

The impacts include a flood of fake transactions that slow down the network, disrupt smart contracts, cause software crashes, and node failures.

 

4. What are some well-known examples of DDoS attacks on blockchains?

 

One example is the DDoS attack on the Solana network in September 2021, which caused 17 hours of downtime.

 

5. What are the measures to prevent DDoS attacks on blockchain networks?

 

Measures include improving node-level security, implementing network-level protection, using redundant infrastructure and backup servers, and conducting audits.