Understand a DDOS

[McNeo 3]

There's been a lot of talk about the DDOS attacks on the JB server and I'm noticing comments and statements that tell me that some people out there may not understand exactly what's going on so I'd like to make this little post to explain it.

 

DOS stands for "Denial of Service." A DOS status itself is NOT a hack or attack - it's simply saying that the service you are trying to access is denying you.

 

DDOS stands for "Distributed Denial of Service." Think of this as the same thing as DOS, just with more than source. A DDOS typically is considered an attack, even if it's not referred to as such, because one server can't have multiple sources of denial - if that makes sense.

 

A DOS or DDOS Attack is when the attacker(s) overload the server with requests for information. This type of attack can affect any type of online server - In the case of a CS:S server it is most likely connection requests or server commands. With the right software one person with one computer can make thousands of requests per minute. With the server spending so much time processing those requests there less time for it to think about other things, such as running the game people are trying to play.

 

There is no such thing as "DDOS Protection" and it can be hard to block. If the attacker's are smart they are using a proxy to mask their location and identity. If the server admins try to block the attacking IP address, the attacker(s) can simply use a different one. The server admin has the option to block a range of addresses, but this is a bad idea because they would also potentially be blocking legitimate people from connecting.

 

The best thing the server admins can do is work with the hosting provider and ISP to try to track down the attacker(s) and block their real IP address and pursue criminal actions.

 

As players the best thing we can do is enjoy what time we get and continue to support the server however we do with hopes that the attacks will stop with time and/or things will be rectified. Just remember there's nothing that can be done during an attack, and very little that can be done to prevent it. Don't take it out on the server or the admins.

[Heisenberg 1]

Good read! Thank you for the post :D

[MineCrack 62]

Thankyou, someone who knows D:. Atleast I know i'm not the only one...

[Zilch 0]

Thankyou, someone who knows D:. Atleast I know i'm not the only one...

 

Watch out we got a 1337 hacker over here.

[MineCrack 62]

Right, i'm just tired of people saying DDoS, then saying it's a new hack... But then again, you're nobody.

[SVWOHL 0]

Thank you for making this clear, wasn't completely sure what Ddos was, now I know.

[Zilch1 0]

lol b&

 

Watch out we got a badass over here

[McNeo 3]

Couple more things to add, I guess...

 

First, the password on the server is not an attempt to prevent the DDOS (or if it is, then whoever put it there isn't the brightest bulb on the tree because they should know what I'm about to say). You do not need to be in the server to attack the server. In fact, it would probably be best if the attacker was NOT in the server and preferably not even in Steam at all.

 

And also, I'm not even sure a DDOS is what we're looking at here. "DDOS" is also an uber 1337 hacker term that people use when something goes wrong and they want to sound smart. I only started this thread to explain what it was since everyone is throwing it around. Maybe it is a DDOS, maybe it's not, I'm not sure but hopefully the admins and server host are working on it.

 

For the record, I am not your friendly neighbor hacker. I mean, I am, but I'm not associated with whatever's going on here (notice my recent join date, other posts in the forums, and the fact that I've donated). I work in IT and network security, so I know a thing or two.

[Nova 8]

I believe this should be stickied and put in the GENERAL thread aswell, so kids don't go around randomly saying "WE'RE BEING DOS'D!!! WE'RE BEING DDOS'D!?!"

 

+1 A great read, very informative and very easy to understand. :3

[RiddleWolf 0]

Thanks for explaining. I wasn't entirely sure what a "ddos" was, and it was easy to understand from this post. +1