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Web Site Security - Distributed Denial of Service

An attack on a web-site designed to reduce the availability of that site is known as a Denial of Service attack (DoS).  A DoS attack is intended to disable a web site by brute force of requests. It could be likened to continually making thousands of phone calls to a company at the same time and “clogging-up” the telephone switchboard. This poses many problems for the business, not only is the web site inaccessible but the attack is also designed to use all available bandwidth removing the business’s ability to counter the attack. 

DoS attacks are often part of a plot to blackmail companies. Businesses who have become subject to a Dos attack often have little choice but pay up. While successful attacks on web-sites are known, it is suspected that many companies threatened with such an attack have simply “paid up” to avoid such an attack.

If you host a web site on your internal company server, building a system that protects against DoS attacks can be difficult and prove very expensive. If you feel your company may become a target for a DoS attack, pre-emptive planning with  your hosting company is probably the most cost effective form of defence.