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Deep Dive – The most simple DoS attack: Reflection attack
Your cybersecurity experts
Lieuwe Jan Koning
Co-Founder and CTO ON2IT Group
Luca Cipriano
Threat Intel Specialist ON2IT
Rob Maas
Field CTO ON2IT
Reflection Attack: The most simple DOS attack
Distributed Denial of Service Attacks
Imagine the potency of a DOS attack powered by the reflection of network requests. We discuss how attackers exploit ordinary protocol functionalities to launch devastating assaults on unsuspecting victims. With no software vulnerabilities to patch, these attacks leverage the inherent design of protocols like DNS and NTP to magnify their impact.
From the theoretical ‘how-tos’ to the intricacies of mitigation, we dissect the anatomy of reflection attacks, examining the roles of attacker, server, and victim in a digital skirmish. Why is UDP the protocol of choice for such attacks? What can organizations do when facing the torrent of unwarranted network responses?
Join us into the tactical battleground of cybersecurity, where understanding the enemy’s moves is half the battle won.
Episode details:
Lieuwe Jan Koning, Rob Maas and Luca Cipriano
In the latest episode of Threat Talks, Lieuwe Jan Koning, Rob Maas and Luca Cipriano zero in on DNS amplification and reflection attacks. From the Security Operation Center floor of ON2IT, they unpack how attackers use these techniques to launch potent DoS attacks, sidestepping traditional defenses with chilling efficiency.
The episode starts with the reflection attack, where an attacker deceives a DNS server into sending responses to an unintended victim by spoofing the source IP address. This concept is scaled up to illustrate how a network can be quickly overwhelmed by a barrage of unsolicited responses.
The conversation then pivots to amplification attacks, a method where small queries trigger disproportionately large responses. This tactic illustrates the cunning use of a network’s own design against itself, amplifying the attack’s force while conserving the attacker’s resources.
Defense strategies are also discussed, highlighting the complexities of protecting against attacks that exploit fundamental internet protocols. The team touches on countermeasures like blocklists and questions the viability of DNS servers’ public accessibility.
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