Douglife

DDoS What?

There are occasionally reports of failures to websites that prevent a user from interacting the website in any way, or even of loading the page. These may be caused by a server or network failure, or may be caused by a DoS attack.

DoS stands for Denial of Service. It is an attack that is initiated by a third party-it is nothing to do with the website that is involved. It occurs when a third party or a number of parties overwhelm a website’s host with requests for communication. It might be a simple and brief reply that is requested, or more information that is called for. When enough requests are made, the host is unable to meet them and the genuine traffic can no longer connect to the website. It should also be noted that a DOS can apply to other computer services, including CPU run time. However most people are more familiar with it with regards to websites, in part because of some major and high publicity attacks that have occurred recently.

So why do it?

It is very important to remember that the website itself is not responsible for their lack of service, and that you should simply try them again later. It is also important to remember that these attacks do not compromise your personal information or that of any other person who uses the site. It is instead designed to hurt the company by preventing real, often paying customers from being able to reach them.

In this way it stops them from making sales, or from processing payments, or from doing whatever else it is that allows them to make money. It also inconveniences their regular users, who may end up looking for services elsewhere.

If the website that has been hit is hosted on a shared server then there is every chance that every other website that is hosted on that server will also be brought down by the DoS attack on the target site. This will cost them money as well, and may lead to the hosting company that hosts all of the sites removing the target site. They may simply insist that they be hosted on a private server so that if there are future attacks they don’t hurt other businesses. Or they may tell the company that they have to find a new host, and cease providing services for them.

Saving your ass

A DoS attack is an unfortunate event that can cost a business a large amount. Common targets are major websites, including credit card companies and other payment processors. There are thankfully ways to protect a website from a DoS attack that their hosting company can put in place, and eventually a DoS attack can be halted.

By having to move to a private server, or find a host that will take a more high risk client, there is a good chance that they will have to pay more for their hosting than they have previously have done. This is an insult added to the original injury, because they end up not only losing money, but having higher running costs as well. The DoS will not hurt you as a customer, so you should have no fear in returning to them once the site is running once again.