Refusal of service (DOS) and DDOS attacks explained: How do hackers take websites down and how can you stop them

Imagine that your website becomes offline - not due to bug or accident, but because someone deliberately filled your server with so many requests. That’s the essence of a Denial of Service (DoS) or Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack.

In this broader blog post, we are DOS and DDOS attacks, the history behind them, how they are detected and exploited, and most importantly how to stop them. Whether you own a cyber security student, developer, or business, it is necessary to understand this attack vector.

🔙 History of DOS and DDOS attacks

📌 In the early 1990s:

Earlier recognized DOS attacks were relatively simple. The attackers will use a single computer to crash or slow down with requests to a target system or with crashed packets.

📌 2000 - Mafiaboy's notorious DDOS:

A 15 -year -old hacker, known as Mafiaboy, launched a DDOS attack on major sites such as CNN, Amazon and eBay, causing widespread disruption. The incident exposed the power of botnets (a network of infected computers controlled by the attacker).

📌 2016 - The Witch DDOS Attack:

One of the biggest attacks in history, the witch DNS provider was overwhelmed by a Mirai botnet, including IOT equipment such as Smart Camera and DVR. Major platforms such as Twitter, Redit and Netflix went offline.

📌 2023 and beyond:

As the cloud and edge computing increases, the attackers have adopted more complex and powerful DDOs strategies, including the AI-based traffic generations and applications and multi-vector attacks of a combination of applications and network layers.

🔎 What is a DoS vs. DDoS Attack?

Term	Description
DoS (Denial of Service)	A single device floods a target with traffic or requests, making it unavailable to legitimate users.
DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service)	Multiple devices (often thousands or millions, part of a botnet) coordinate to overwhelm a target simultaneously.

🛑 target:

To disrupt availability - your site, app, or service to be unattainable, slow or crashed.

🧠 Types of DOS and DDOS attacks

1. Volumetric attack

• Flood bandwidth with massive traffic.
• Example: UDP floods, ICMP floods.

2. Protocol attack

• Exploit weaknesses in network layers or protocols.
• Example: Sin Flood, Ping of Death, Smarf Attack.

3. Application layer attack (layer 7)

• Target the app itself (eg, http gate/post flood).
• Low volume but it is difficult to detect.

🧪 How DOS/DDOS attacks are carried out (exploitation technology)

1. Botet

• The attackers infect thousands of devices using malware, converting them into "corpses".
• They are then controlled from a distance to send synchronized traffic to the victim.

2. Amplification

• Use services such as DNS or NTP to increase a request - increasing small questions that return massive reactions to the victim (eg, DNS amplification).

3. IP Spoofing

• Forge by the packet's IP address makes it difficult to identify where the traffic arises.

4. Http flood

• To overwhel a web app with HTTP requests that look valid.

🔍 How to detect dos and DDOS attacks

✅ Signs of a dos/DDOS attack:

• Display unusually slower.
• Website outage or service crash.
• Spike in traffic coming from single or several IPS.
• Abnormal traffic patterns- eg, requested unknown geographicals.

🔧 Ways to detect equipment and attacks:

1. Traffic monitoring

• Use devices such as Wireshark, NetFlow, SolarWinds, or Datadog to detect sudden traffic spikes.

2. Rate limited log

• Check the log for IPS to send excessive requests beyond defined threshold.

3. Infiltration detection system (ID)

• Tools such as Snort or Suricata can detect suspected traffic patterns.

4. Behavior analysis

• Machine learning tools can detect deviations from normal user traffic behavior.

🛡 How to prevent and reduce dos/ddos attacks

🧱 1. Use DDOS Security Service

• Tools such as Cloudflare, AWS Shield, Akamai, or Imperva absorb and filter malicious traffic before reaching your server.

🔁 2. Rate limited and throtting

• A user or IP can limit the number of requests in a short time.
• Application layer (layer 7) helps reduce attacks.

🧠 3. Use web app Firewall (WAF)

• Blocks traffic from a waf filter, monitor, and a web application.
• HTTP is useful to identify and block floods.

⚙ 4. Excess and load balance

• Distribute traffic to several servers to reduce the effect of an attack on one point.

📍 5. Live-blocking

• Block requests from suspicious or irrelevant countries for your service.

⛑ 6. Event response plan

• Be prepared with a playbook for mitigation, growth and communication.

🧠 DOS/DDOS examples of the real world of attacks

📌 github (2018)

• The largest DDOS attack in history at that time - 1.35 TBPS.
• The attackers used a memcached server to increase traffic.

📌 AWS (2020)

• An unnamed AWS reduced a 2.3 TBPS DDOS attack, targeting the customer.
• The attack lasted for three days, showing the scale of modern threats.

📌 Estonia (2007)

• A politically inspired attack brought banking, government and media websites down.

🧰 Popular tools used by attackers (only academic objectives)

⚠ Disclaimer: These devices are listed only for moral education and awareness. Unauthorized use is illegal.

• Loic (low class ion cannon)- GUI-based dos tool
• Hoek (high orbit ion cannon)-Most powerful, supports multi-threading
• Hping3 - Network Tool for TCP/IP packet crafting
• Application-Lear DOS Tool using Slowloris- Partial HTTP requests

🌐 Why DOS and DDO still matters in 2025

Despite the progress in cyber security, DDOS attacks are:

• Cheap to launch
• Hard to trace
• Often used as smokscreen for more severe infiltration such as data exfoliation

In 2025, with increasing dependence on mother -in -law and API, these attacks now:

• Honey fly
• Lead network
• Blockchain nodes
• Gaming and streaming platforms

📌 DoS vs DDoS: Key Differences Recap

Feature	DoS	DDoS
Source	Single machine	Multiple machines (botnet)
Power	Limited	Massive
Detection	Easier	Harder
Mitigation	Local firewall may help	Needs advanced cloud protection

🔚 conclusion

DOS and DDOS attacks are not just the remains of early internet war - they are developing modern, developed threats. As the technology grows, the way these attacks are on the vector and scale. But with correct awareness, detection mechanisms and mitigation strategies, you can make sure that your system is flexible and online, even under pressure.

Whether you are managing an individual blog or enterprise application, availability is non-conventional-so take steps today to save what you have created.