HostMySite.com Hit by DDoS Attack that Leveraged Spoofing

Actions to protect DNS servers from DDoS attacks are critical

On April 3, 2007, HostMySite.com suffered a severe Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack against its Domain Name Service (DNS) servers. By attacking the DNS servers the hacker created latency on the HostMySite.com network and slowed down access to all of its hosted websites.

The hacker's use of spoofing (hiding the identity of the attacking servers) meant that HostMySite.com could not block the bogus traffic. In response, HostMySite.com added more processing power to their DNS servers. Additionally they recalibrated and fine-tuned the intrusion detection systems as well as the load balancers. The changes worked and the DNS servers were relieved of much of the bogus traffic.

In a typical DDoS attack, the hacker uses thousands or even hundreds of thousands of enslaved computers, referred to as bots. When the cyber criminal gives the order, all the bots simultaneously send requests to the targeted DNS servers. Due to the large number of strategically released requests, the quantity of data received by the servers is immense. The requests overwhelm the DNS which can result in the entire website, or even several hundreds of hosted websites, going down.

Protecting DNS servers and websites against DDoS attacks is top priority. Any company that does business over the Internet can be a target. There are cases in which a company's DNS servers were not directly targeted, but they were impacted by a far-reaching DDoS attack. Oftentimes the reasons for the DNS attacks are extortion and revenge. Sometimes, even rival businesses can manage a DDoS attack against their competitor.

Source: HostMySite.com

About Secure64 Software Corporation
Secure64® is a software developer providing highly secure DNS and server applications with built-in denial-of-service protection features to help ensure your Internet-dependent business is always accessible. Based on the genuinely secure SourceT® microOS, Secure64 DNS remains highly available during network attacks and is immune to compromise from rootkits and malware.

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