What is Ddos

Community General Discussion
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What is Ddos???

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Here you go. I saved you 15 seconds of your valuable time:

DDoS stands for Distributed Denial of Service. It is a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal functioning of a targeted server, service, or network by overwhelming it with a flood of traffic. Here’s how it works:

  1. Multiple Sources: Unlike a standard DoS attack that uses a single source, a DDoS attack is launched from multiple compromised computers or devices, often part of a botnet.
  2. Flooding Traffic: The attackers send an overwhelming amount of requests or data to the target, consuming its resources (like bandwidth, CPU, or memory).
  3. Disruption: The excessive traffic can slow down the service or even make it completely unavailable to legitimate users.
  4. Motives: DDoS attacks can be motivated by various reasons, including extortion, political activism, or simply to disrupt a competitor’s business.

Types of DDoS Attacks

  • Volume-Based Attacks: These involve overwhelming the target with massive amounts of traffic (e.g., UDP floods).
  • Protocol Attacks: These exploit weaknesses in the protocol stack (e.g., SYN floods).
  • Application Layer Attacks: These target specific applications and services (e.g., HTTP floods).

Prevention Measures

To mitigate DDoS attacks, organizations can use:

  • Traffic Analysis: Monitoring incoming traffic patterns to identify anomalies.
  • Rate Limiting: Restricting the number of requests a user can make.
  • DDoS Protection Services: Utilizing specialized services that absorb and filter malicious traffic.

Understanding DDoS attacks is crucial for maintaining the security and availability of online services.

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3

Ok, my question is: Why? What is the purpose of a DDoS on WoW specifically? Are they just bored teenagers creating a nuisance for their own amusement? Also, can they steal info like our log-in passwords during a DDoS? (I’ve changed my password after every DDoS just to be safe.)

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A ddos is essentially a barrage on the company’s computer system, imagine a subway worker trying to make sandwiches as people are throwing 10000 meatballs at them per second. Or more realistically they have 10000 customers asking for their attention at the same time.

I think generally the purpose is to financially harm the company attacked (for example, many people unsub if the game is unplayable too often) and sometimes it’s warfare and sometimes it’s some personal vendetta, but no need to change your password.

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There have been folks who have speculated that at least some of the recent incidents have been directed at a particular hardcore streaming guild during their raids.

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Could be anything.

Could be bored teenagers like you said. Could be criminal organisations looking for ransom. Could be state actors doing whatever they can to harm the US’s economy.

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Dos is where I type c:\wow\wow.exe to play this game, but thanks for making fun of my stutter. :upside_down_face:

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Until we can read minds, we can’t answer that question.

However, its probably safe to assume that its done for the reason that it creates - disruption of gameplay. For some people, apparently that is reason enough.

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Really? Oh wow… :unamused: In a way that’s even worse than bored teenagers, imo.