DDOS - Distributed Denial of Service

Distributed Denial of Service
DDOS

A massive problem for the functionality of the Internet

A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack is one in which a multitude of compromised systems attack a single target (your website) causing denial of service for users wishing to access your site. The flood of incoming requests to the target system essentially forces it to shut down, thereby denying service to the system to legitimate users. The reasons for the attack are generally extortion (money), political or just malicious (revenge or any perceived injustice).

How it works

A Botnet (hundreds of thousands of compromised online devices) send requests to a website they wish to take down. The website is unable to handle the data flowing in (bandwidth) and will slow up and stop. Attacks have reached 600GB per second and will no doubt increase in the future.
These attacks can take down Small Countries.

Make sure your devices are not part of any botnet.

Urgent!
IoT - the Internet of Things

Please check anything you have that is connected to the interet.
This includes wireless routers, Webcams, Baby Monitors, Security Cameras - anything that you can control remotely.

Reset these devices and alter the logins from the default to a unique user and password (see password section)
Your device may be recruited into a botnet that allows major distruption to specific Internet Services.

An Example of a small DDOS attack

Predicted growth of IoT