hiring a hacker form with terms and conditions dos(Terms of use)

Introduction：

3、6 Rules for Banks to Prevent DoS attacks

4、Understanding Denial-of-Service Attacks

Standard Disclosure Terms ♂

　　This web page represents a legal document with terms and conditions applicable to all individuals who have registered user names (also known as a “handle”) with Bugcrowd Inc. (“Bugcrowd”) through the Bugcrowd website. In addition, the terms and conditions contained in our?Code of Conduct,?Disclosure Policy?and?Terms of Service?(along with these Standard Disclosure Terms, collectively, the “Researcher Terms and Conditions”) are incorporated by reference into these Standard Disclosure Terms. Upon obtaining a user name with Bugcrowd, you are referred to as a “Researcher” and you are bound by and are obligated to comply with the Researcher Terms and Conditions.

　　THE SUBMISSION PROCESS

　　If you believe you have discovered a vulnerability, please create a submission for the appropriate program through the Crowdcontrol platform. Each program has a set of guidelines called the Program Brief. The program brief is maintained by the Program Owner.?Terms specified in the program brief supersede these terms.

　　Each submission will be updated with significant events, including when the issue has been validated, when we need more information from you, or when you have qualified for a reward.

　　Each submission is evaluated by the Program Owner on the basis of first-to-find. Bugcrowd may assist in the evaluation process.

　　You will qualify for a reward if you were the first person to alert the Program Owner to a previously unknown issue AND?the issue triggers a code or configuration change.

　　STANDARD PROGRAM RULES

　　We are committed to protecting the interests of Security Researchers. The more closely your behavior follows these rules, the more we’ll be able to protect you if a difficult situation escalates.

　　Rules can vary for each program. Please carefully read the program brief for specific rules. These rules apply to all programs:

　　Testing should be performed only on systems listed under the program brief ‘Targets’ section. Any other systems are Out Of Scope.

　　Except when otherwise noted in the program brief, you should create accounts for testing purposes.

　　Submissions must be made exclusively through Crowdcontrol to be considered for a reward.

　　Communication regarding submissions must remain within Crowdcontrol and/or official Bugcrowd support channels for the duration of the disclosure process.

　　Actions which affect the integrity or availability of program targets are prohibited and strictly enforced. If you notice performance degradation on the target systems, you must immediately suspend all use of automated tools.

　　Submissions should have impact to the target’s security posture. Impact means the reported issue affects the target’s users, systems, or data security in a meaningful way. Submitters may be asked to defend the impact in order to qualify for a reward.

　　Submissions may be closed if a Researcher is non-responsive to requests for information after 7 days.

　　The existence or details of private or invitation-only programs must not be communicated to anyone who is not a Bugcrowd employee or an authorized employee of the organization responsible for the program.

　　We encourage Researchers to include a video or screenshot Proof-of-Concept in their submissions. These files should not be shared publicly. This includes uploading to any publicly accessible websites (i.e. YouTube, Imgur, etc.). If the file exceeds 100MB, upload the file to a secure online service such as Vimeo, with a password. For more details, please refer to our?Reporting a Bug?documentation.

　　Bugcrowd’s Disclosure policies apply to all submissions made through the Bugcrowd platform, including Duplicates, Out of Scope, and Not Applicable submissions. Customers may select Nondisclosure, Coordinated Disclosure, or Custom Disclosure policies to be applied to their program brief. Please refer to our?Additional Disclosure Policies?for details on the different Public Disclosure Policies at Bugcrowd.

　　If a Researcher wants to retain disclosure rights for vulnerabilities that are out of scope for a bounty program, they should report the issue to the Program Owner directly. Bugcrowd can assist Researchers in identifying the appropriate email address to contact. Program Owners are encouraged to ensure their program scope includes all critical components they wish to receive vulnerability reports for.

　　Violation of a program’s stated disclosure policy may result in enforcement action, as outlined in the Enforcement Actions section of the Platform Behavior Standards.

　　You must be at least 18 years old or have reached the age of majority in your jurisdiction of primary residence and citizenship to be eligible to receive any monetary compensation as a Researcher. Additional applicable eligibility requirements are stated in the?Terms of Service. Exceptions with respect to a minor’s participation in Bug Bashes may be considered on a case-by-case basis as between Bugcrowd and the applicable minor’s guardian(s).

　　USERNAMES AND PASSWORDS

　　You will need to set up an account and user name in order to be a Researcher. You may not use a third party’s account without permission. When you are setting up your account, you must give us accurate and complete information. This means that you cannot set up an account using a name or contact information that does not apply to you, and you must provide accurate and current information on all registration forms that are part of the Website. You may only set up one account. You have complete responsibility for your account and everything that happens on your account. This means you need to be careful with your password. If you find out that someone is using your account without your permission, you must let us know immediately. You may not transfer your account to someone else. We are not liable for any damages or losses caused by someone using your account without your permission. However, if we (or anyone else) suffer any damage due to the unauthorized use of your account, you may be liable. Bugcrowd may deny the use of certain user names or require certain user names be changed at Bugcrowd’s sole discretion and/or to comply with end customers’ requirements. User names with offensive or discriminatory words are prohibited.

　　ADDITIONAL RESOURCES INCORPORATED INTO THESE TERMS

　　Researcher Documentation

　　Researcher FAQs & Resources

　　Additional Disclosure Policies

　　Code of Conduct

　　A violation of these rules may result in the invalidation of submissions, and forfeiture of all rewards, for current and future programs on the Bugcrowd platform.

　　Some submission types are excluded because they are dangerous to assess, or because they have low security impact to the Program Owner. This section contains issues that Bugcrowd?does not accept,?will be immediately marked as invalid, and are?not rewardable.

　　Findings from physical testing such as office access (e.g. open doors, tailgaiting).

　　Findings derived primarily from social engineering (e.g. phishing, vishing).

　　Findings from applications or systems not listed in the ‘Targets’ section.

　　Functional, UI and UX bugs and spelling mistakes.

　　Network level Denial of Service (DoS/DDoS) vulnerabilities.

　　Some submission types do not qualify for a reward because they have low security impact to the program owner, and thus, do not trigger a code change. This section contains a listing of issues found to be commonly reproducible and reported but are often ineligible. We strongly suggest you do not report these issues unless you can demonstrate a chained attack with higher impact.

　　Descriptive error messages (e.g. Stack Traces, application or server errors).

　　HTTP 404 codes/pages or other HTTP non-200 codes/pages.

　　Banner disclosure on common/public services.

　　Disclosure of known public files or directories, (e.g. robots.txt).

　　Clickjacking and issues only exploitable through clickjacking.

　　CSRF on forms that are available to anonymous users (e.g. the contact form).

　　Logout Cross-Site Request Forgery (logout CSRF).

　　Presence of application or web browser ‘autocomplete’ or ‘save password’ functionality.

　　Lack of Secure and HTTPOnly cookie flags.

　　Lack of Security Speedbump when leaving the site.

　　Weak Captcha / Captcha Bypass

　　Username enumeration via Login Page error message

　　Username enumeration via Forgot Password error message

　　OPTIONS / TRACE HTTP method enabled

　　SSL Attacks such as BEAST, BREACH, Renegotiation attack

　　SSL Forward secrecy not enabled

　　SSL Insecure cipher suites

　　The Anti-MIME-Sniffing header X-Content-Type-Options

　　Missing HTTP security headers, specifically (https://blog.veracode.com/2014/03/guidelines-for-setting-security-headers/)

　　You will qualify for a reward if you were the first eligible person to alert the Program Owner to a previously unknown issue AND the issue?triggers a code or configuration change. Reward details vary for each program. Rewards can take the form of USD, Bugcrowd Points, CPE Points and/or Swag. Please carefully read each program brief for specific details.

　　Each submission’s reward amount is based on the business impact, severity, and creativity of the issue. Bugs found in applications, features, and functions called out in the program brief as an “Focus Area(s)” are awarded at higher levels.

　　Valid submissions also count towards?ISC?2?Continuing Professional Experience (CPE) credits. If you’re an ISC2?certification holder please make sure you’ve updated your ISC2?ID in the portal.

　　If you become eligible for a monetary award, to get paid, you may need to: (a) provide additional verification and tax information, (b) fulfill various eligibility requirements and (c) agree to additional terms and conditions with a third party payment processor. Taxes on monetary rewards paid to you are your sole responsibility and monetary rewards which remain unclaimed or undeliverable for a period of six (6) months will be forfeited.

　　You hereby represent that you have obtained the necessary approvals and consents from all third parties including your employer for the purpose of participating as a Researcher.

　　For the purposes of this section, “Testing Results” means information about vulnerabilities discovered on the Target Systems discovered, found, observed or identified by Researchers” and “Target Systems” are the applications and systems that are the subject of the Testing Services.

　　You hereby agree and warrant that you will disclose all of the Testing Results found or identified by you (“your Testing Results”) to Bugcrowd. Furthermore, you hereby assign to Bugcrowd and agree to assign to Bugcrowd any and all of your Testing Results and rights thereto. To the extent any rights in your Testing Results are not assignable, you shall grant and agree to grant to Bugcrowd under any and all such rights an irrevocable, paid-up, royalty free, perpetual, exclusive, sub-licensable (directly or indirectly through multiple tiers), transferable, and worldwide license to use and permit others to use such Testing Results in any manner desired by us (and/or our customers and sponsors) without restriction or accounting to you, including, without limitation, the right to make, have made, sell, offer for sale, use, rent, lease, import, copy, prepare derivative works, publicly display, publicly perform, and distribute all or any part of such Testing Results and modifications and combinations thereof and to sublicense (directly or indirectly through multiple tiers) or transfer any and all such rights. Further, you shall waive and agree to waive in favor of Bugcrowd any moral right or other right or claim that is contrary to the intent of a complete transfer of rights to Bugcrowd in your Testing Results.

　　You hereby authorize us and any Bug Bounty Program or Bug Bash sponsors to publicize your Testing Results, including account name (handle), and any additional information as may be required by the Program Brief. Any such Program Brief may request certain personally identifiable information about you be provided to the Program Owner and your agreement to participate in such Bug Bounty Program or Bug Bash indicates your consent to provide such information.

　　“Confidential Information” means any information that is marked or otherwise designated as confidential at the time of disclosure or that a reasonable person would consider confidential based on the circumstances and content of the disclosure, and includes, without limitation: customer information, personally identifiable information, financial information, information regarding Target Systems, information regarding the target of a crowdsourced security program (including, as may be applicable, any merger, acquisition or sale discussions or transactions), pricing information, business information, fees and amounts paid to Researchers and existence of and terms of private crowdsourced security programs. Confidential Information does not include information that: (i) is or becomes known to the receiving party from a source other than one having an obligation of confidentiality to the disclosing party; (ii) is or becomes publicly known or otherwise ceases to be confidential, except through a breach of this Agreement; or (iii) is independently developed by the receiving party.

　　You agree that you will (i) hold in confidence and not disclose to any third party any Confidential Information, except as approved in writing by disclosing party; (ii) protect such Confidential Information with at least the same degree of care that the Researcher uses to protect its own Confidential Information, but in no case, less than reasonable care; (iii) use the disclosing party’s Confidential Information for no purpose other than the use permitted by the disclosing party; and (iv) immediately notify disclosing party upon discovery of any loss or unauthorized disclosure of disclosing party’s Confidential Information.

　　ALL SUBMISSIONS ARE CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION OF THE PROGRAM OWNER UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED IN THE BOUNTY BRIEF. This means no submissions may be publicly disclosed at any time unless the Program Owner has otherwise consented to disclosure. Please see the?Bugcrowd Public Disclosure Policy?for a more fulsome description regarding disclosure of vulnerabilities in connection with Bug Bounty Programs.

　　With respect to the Confidential Information of Researchers, please refer to the Bugcrowd privacy policy available at?https://www.bugcrowd.com/privacy

　　During the course of each program, the Bugcrowd team may communicate updates via:

　　‘Program Updates’ section within the program.

　　Email.

　　If you have questions about a program or a specific submission, you may contact the Bugcrowd team via:

　　Bugcrowd Platform Commenting System.

　　bugcrowd.com/support.

　　The Bugcrowd team can be publicly contacted via the following channels. DO NOT communicate specifics about a program via these channels.

　　Bugcrowd’s social channels (X, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc)

　　Bugcrowd’s Slack channel (BC Buzz)

Terms of use ♂

　　This User Licence Agreement contains an offer from deister for using software in accordance with the utilisation conditions contained in this User Licence Agreement, which you accept in the name of your company by clicking the box “I agree”. If you do not agree with the provisions of this Agreement, please click “Cancel” or “Close window”. A legally binding contract between deister and yourself is hereby concluded if you are a consumer, or between deister and your business enterprise if you are an entrepreneur.

　　2.1 This User Licence Agreement applies to all products, including all apps and software for which deister grants licences to partner companies or final customers (in each case a “deister product”), in particular but not exclusively for using “deisterAcademy”, “deisterDashboard”, “deisterHelpdesk” and the Commander software family; in each case, however, only for those deister products which have been registered through this User Licence Agreement.

　　2.2 By concluding this User Licence Agreement, deister grants you a non-exclusive licence for using software and the related documentation. Such a licence is only granted for deister’s respective products and/or the respective software for which this User Licence Agreement was concluded and not generally for all deister products cited in these utilisation conditions.

　　2.3 This User Licence Agreement also applies to all updates and upgrades belonging to the respective deister product, insofar as deister makes them available to you. The respective deister product and the related software, app and all documentation as well as updates and upgrades are hereinafter designated as “software”. A licence file is also an integral part of the provided software.

　　3.1 The software is protected on behalf of deister through copyright laws and possibly other laws, and through appropriate ancillary copyright contracts and sui generis copyrights. These rights remain unaffected by this contract. The software is licensed by this User Licence Agreement, but not sold. You do not receive any ownership to the software and only acquire rights to the software insofar as this is explicitly regulated in this User Licence Agreement. deister explicitly retains ownership, all claims and all rights to the software, including all possible copyrights, company and business secrets, brands, patents and other intellectual property rights to the software.

　　3.2 deister grants you the right to install and use copies of the software on a device that has a properly licensed copy of the operating system for which the software was developed. For this purpose, deister grants you the simple, non-exclusive utilisation right to the software for using the software pursuant to this User Licence Agreement in accordance with its respective functions, subject to any possible restrictions which are contained in the “General Terms and Conditions of deister electronic GmbH” (hereinafter called “AGB”). In the case of contradictions between provisions of this User Licence Agreement and those in the contract “deister Careplan”, the provisions of the latter contract shall apply. With regard to deister’s AGB, the provisions of this User Licence Agreement shall have priority. You will find a link to the General Terms and Conditions at the end of this User Licence Agreement.

　　3.3 You are only allowed to duplicate the software insofar as this is necessary for backing up and archiving your individual customer profile. On no account shall the software be allowed to be duplicated for any other purposes without the explicit approval of deister.

　　3.4 For the reverse engineering, decompiling (i.e. translation back to the source code) and disassembling of the software §§ 69c, no. 3, 69d, subsection 2 and 3 and 69e of the German Act on Copyright and Related Rights (UrhG) apply. If decompiling is to be performed to ensure interoperability with other programs, you must notify deister in advance and request the necessary information. This may make decompilation unnecessary. Insofar as the above-mentioned regulations do not make deister’s approval absolutely unnecessary, prior explicit approval must be obtained from deister for the reverse engineering, decompiling and disassembling of the software.

　　4.1 The licence for using software is restricted to one terminal device or system, insofar as the utilisation contract, including the respective product information, does not include any explicit licence for multiple use. For this purpose, you may use every terminal device that fulfils the system requirements in a legally permissible way and for which the licence was granted. If you change the terminal device, the software must be removed from the terminal device on which it was previously installed before it is reinstalled on another terminal device. insofar as the utilisation contract, including the respective product information, envisages special licences for multiple use, multiple use shall only be permissible in accordance with type and number of the explicitly granted multiple licences. The software is only suitable for use on the terminal device(s) specifically cited in the licence file. Use on other devices is forbidden.

　　4.2 The following types of use are forbidden:

　　4.2.1 Any transfer of the software or access data – which enables the software to be used – to third parties, in particular but not exclusively through renting out, letting, leasing, hiring out, actually making available or any other type of transfer, administration measures of partner companies within the framework of contractual use are excluded;

　　4.2.2 Granting sub-licences without deister’s prior explicit approval;

　　4.2.3 Duplicating software or parts thereof (apart from backup purposes in accordance with point 3.3 above);

　　4.2.4 Partly or completely altering software, further developing it or creating works derived from it;

　　4.2.5 Removing copyright labels, serial numbers, markings or copy protection functions of the software;

　　4.2.6 Using the software for illegal or incorrect purposes, for instance using the data possibly contained in the software “deisterDashboard” for purposes other than those envisaged by the software;

　　4.2.7 Using the software for advertising purposes, for instance on the communication portals of the deister products “deisterDashboard” or “deisterHelpdesk”;

　　4.2.8 Using the software for purposes that are not necessary or useful for business operations, in particular but not exclusively for uploading private or illegal contents in the product “deisterPortal”;

　　4.2.9 Duplicating or passing on to third parties web contents that are made available to you through using the software, regardless of what type (for instance text contents, image contents, noise or music contents, etc.) and in which form these are made available (for instance doc, jpg, pdf, tif files, etc.), in particular but not exclusively for using the deister product “deisterAcademy” and

　　4.2.10 Using the software “deisterHelpdesk” for illegal or incorrect purposes or nor support queries which are not seriously intended.

　　4.3 deister reserves all rights for preventing unauthorised use of the software on your part, in particular rights to enforce refraining and compensation for damage. In the case of unauthorised use on your part, the licence granted within the framework of the utilisation contract in accordance with these terms of use shall be forfeited and hence the right to use the software and the updates and upgrades. You will then not receive any further updates and must delete the software as well as any backup copies from your terminal device. Unauthorised use on your part may then also have criminal consequences.

　　4.4 deister reserves the right to alter these terms of use for objective reasons within a legally permissible framework, and will notify the users before the changes come into force.

　　5.1 You are responsible for a functioning hardware and software environment and for any licences which may possibly be necessary for their operation. The same applies to data backups of your IT system at regular intervals, for which you hereby undertake an obligation. Insofar as you use the software in areas subject to particular risk, which require error-free permanent operation of relevant systems and where failure of the software can lead to a direct risk for life and limb and health or to serious material or environmental damage (activities with high risk and activities with high availability, in particular the operation of nuclear power plants, weapons systems, flight navigation or flight communication systems, life-maintaining systems or equipment, machines and production processes for manufacturing pharmaceutics and foodstuffs), you must ensure that the systems whose functionality is necessary for the cited particularly risky areas of use are regularly and thoroughly checked, and that appropriate emergency measures are stipulated for the event of system failure and that these are regularly carefully checked to ensure that they are state-of-the-art, effective and efficient. The measures to be taken must comply with the stipulations of ISO 22301:2012. deister does not provide a warranty or guarantee that the software is suitable for use in particularly risky areas of use.

　　5.2 Furthermore, you must immediately notify deister if third parties assert rights to the software vis-à-vis you, and you must immediately forward any possible correspondence and must not communicate yourself with third parties. If such correspondence is immediately forwarded, deister will itself take over legal proceedings and defence at its own cost in such cases. The latter shall not apply if you yourself assert the rights to the software, present declarations and/or statements to third parties without prior consultation with deister.

　　5.3 Furthermore, you must immediately notify deister if the software has actually become available to third parties from yourself or from your terminal device, irrespective of whether this occurs through theft, hacker attacks, technical accidents or in any other way and whether this occurs through your own fault or through no fault of your own.

　　deister shall itself decide on providing updates for different types of software at irregular intervals, but this shall not necessarily apply to all software. deister does not assume any obligation for providing updates free of charge. deister shall decide, on a voluntary basis, whether updates are provided free of charge in individual cases. This does not justify any right for the future.

　　7.1 ???????Insofar as nothing to the contrary is explicitly agreed, the software provided by deister shall mainly be identical with the product information and specifications provided by deister, including the information in the user manuals, but the software may have negligible system errors and malfunctions. deister warranties that the software functions for a period of thirty (30) days from the date it is delivered to you. deister dos not warranty that the software complies with your requirements, or that the software will be free of any interruptions or errors or is completely secure. deister does not warranty that the software in accordance with this contract is suitable for purposes beyond the fulfilment of deister’s contractual obligations.

　　7.2 ??????????????Despite the utmost diligence and care, according to the current state-of-the-art it is not possible to rule out program errors with 100% certainty or to develop software which protects against every existing virus or every other existing malware, which means that deister insofar cannot provide any warranty. Nevertheless, deister shall always attempt to comply with the latest state-of-the-art within the framework of reasonable expectations.

　　8.1 ??????????????Deister’s liability for data loss is restricted to the typical efforts necessary for restoring data that are appropriate when backup copies are available. You are notified of your obligation to regularly perform data backups in accordance with point 5.1.

　　8.2 ??????????????Furthermore, the provisions in accordance with point 9 of the AGB apply.

　　Deister’s privacy policy shall apply, which can be found here???????.???????

　　10.1 The law of the Federal Republic of Germany shall apply. The provisions of the UN Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG) are ruled out. The exclusive court of jurisdiction is Hanover, insofar as the user is a merchant in the sense of the German Commercial Code or has no permanent place of residence in Germany upon commencement of proceedings. deister is also entitled to institute proceedings at the user’s principal place of business.

　　10.2 Should individual provisions of this User Licence Agreement be partly or completely illegal, this shall not affect the effectiveness of the other provisions.???????

6 Rules for Banks to Prevent DoS attacks ♂

　　Denial of Service (DoS) attacks can be devastating for banks. These attacks involve sending traffic to a server hoping to overwhelm it and block access. For example, a hacker might try to mount a DoS attack against a website by continually sending requests, causing the website to take longer to load or even crash.

　　Banks are vulnerable since it would be devastating to have their websites down for any amount of time. Because of this, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) has released a set of six rules that all banking organizations should follow to prevent DoS attacks.

　　The first rule states that organizations should:

　　“Maintain an ongoing program to assess information security risk that identifies, prioritizes, and assesses the risk to critical systems, including threats to external websites and online accounts."

　　This rule emphasizes continual risk assessments and penetration tests. The only way for organizations to know their weaknesses is to continually search for them. ?The most important penetration test for finding DoS weaknesses is the external penetration test, ?which provides? insight into how an organization may be attacked by someone outside of their network. Likewise, the application penetration test is vital to make sure there are no flaws in hosted applications that could lead to DoS attacks (Learn about our penetration testing services services here).

　　The next rule states that banks should:

　　“Monitor Internet traffic to the institution’s website to detect attacks.”

　　With continual monitoring, cyber-response teams can be notified as soon as an incident happens. A quick response is vital since the sooner an incident is spotted, the sooner the response team can attempt to mitigate the damage. In some cases, even a few-minute delay can prove devastating.

　　After spotting an attack organization should:

　　“Activate incident response plans and notify service providers, including Internet service providers (ISPs), as appropriate, if the institution suspects that a DDoS attack is occurring. Response plans should include appropriate communication strategies with customers concerning the safety of their accounts.”

　　The key here is to have an Incident response plan in place before an attack. The plan should include all key contact information along with clear steps to take to respond to the incident so organizations can move quickly.

　　To facilitate an effective response, banks should:

　　“Ensure sufficient staffing for the duration of the DDoS attack and consider hiring precontracted third-party servicers, as appropriate, that can assist in managing the Internet based traffic flow. Identify how the institution’s ISP can assist in responding to and mitigating an attack.”

　　This rule emphasizes the importance of having both an internal cyber-response team and third-party experts in place to assist in case of an incident. Likewise, it is critical to know what measures the ISP can take to help mitigate a DoS attack. Most ISPs offer some form of DoS/DDoS protection.

　　After the incident, the FFIEC recommends:

　　“Consider sharing information with organizations, such as the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center and law enforcement because attacks can change rapidly and sharing the information can help institutions to identify and mitigate new threats and tactics.”

　　Or course, sharing information about the attack can give government agencies and law enforcement critical data to prevent future attacks.

　　Lastly the organization should:

　　“Evaluate any gaps in the institution’s response following attacks and in its ongoing risk assessments and adjust risk management controls accordingly.”

　　This is important to prevent future attacks on the organization. This may include patching systems or installing new software. After making substantial changes it is critical to perform a DoS attack to ensure that the changes made work.

Understanding Denial-of-Service Attacks ♂

　　A denial-of-service (DoS) attack occurs when legitimate users are unable to access information systems, devices, or other network resources due to the actions of a malicious cyber threat actor. Services affected may include email, websites, online accounts (e.g., banking), or other services that rely on the affected computer or network. A denial-of-service condition is accomplished by flooding the targeted host or network with traffic until the target cannot respond or simply crashes, preventing access for legitimate users. DoS attacks can cost an organization both time and money while their resources and services are inaccessible.

　　There are many different methods for carrying out a DoS attack. The most common method of attack occurs when an attacker floods a network server with traffic. In this type of DoS attack, the attacker sends several requests to the target server, overloading it with traffic. These service requests are illegitimate and have fabricated return addresses, which mislead the server when it tries to authenticate the requestor. As the junk requests are processed constantly, the server is overwhelmed, which causes a DoS condition to legitimate requestors.In a Smurf Attack, the attacker sends Internet Control Message Protocol broadcast packets to a number of hosts with a spoofed source Internet Protocol (IP) address that belongs to the target machine. The recipients of these spoofed packets will then respond, and the targeted host will be flooded with those responses.A SYN flood occurs when an attacker sends a request to connect to the target server but does not complete the connection through what is known as a three-way handshake—a method used in a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)/IP network to create a connection between a local host/client and server. The incomplete handshake leaves the connected port in an occupied status and unavailable for further requests. An attacker will continue to send requests, saturating all open ports, so that legitimate users cannot connect.

　　Individual networks may be affected by DoS attacks without being directly targeted. If the network’s internet service provider (ISP) or cloud service provider has been targeted and attacked, the network will also experience a loss of service.

　　A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack occurs when multiple machines are operating together to attack one target. DDoS attackers often leverage the use of a botnet—a group of hijacked internet-connected devices to carry out large scale attacks. Attackers take advantage of security vulnerabilities or device weaknesses to control numerous devices using command and control software. Once in control, an attacker can command their botnet to conduct DDoS on a target. In this case, the infected devices are also victims of the attack.

　　Botnets—made up of compromised devices—may also be rented out to other potential attackers. Often the botnet is made available to “attack-for-hire” services, which allow unskilled users to launch DDoS attacks.

　　DDoS allows for exponentially more requests to be sent to the target, therefore increasing the attack power. It also increases the difficulty of attribution, as the true source of the attack is harder to identify.

　　DDoS attacks have increased in magnitude as more and more devices come online through the Internet of Things (IoT) (see Securing the Internet of Things). IoT devices often use default passwords and do not have sound security postures, making them vulnerable to compromise and exploitation. Infection of IoT devices often goes unnoticed by users, and an attacker could easily compromise hundreds of thousands of these devices to conduct a high-scale attack without the device owners’ knowledge.

　　While there is no way to completely avoid becoming a target of a DoS or DDoS attack, there are proactive steps administrators can take to reduce the effects of an attack on their network.Enroll in a DoS protection service that detects abnormal traffic flows and redirects traffic away from your network. The DoS traffic is filtered out, and clean traffic is passed on to your network.Create a disaster recovery plan to ensure successful and efficient communication, mitigation, and recovery in the event of an attack.

　　It is also important to take steps to strengthen the security posture of all of your internet-connected devices in order to prevent them from being compromised.Install and maintain antivirus software.Install a firewall and configure it to restrict traffic coming into and leaving your computer (see Understanding Firewalls for Home and Small Office Use).Evaluate security settings and follow good security practices in order to minimalize the access other people have to your information, as well as manage unwanted traffic (see Good Security Habits).

　　Symptoms of a DoS attack can resemble non-malicious availability issues, such as technical problems with a particular network or a system administrator performing maintenance. However, the following symptoms could indicate a DoS or DDoS attack:Unusually slow network performance (opening files or accessing websites),Unavailability of a particular website, orAn inability to access any website.

　　The best way to detect and identify a DoS attack would be via network traffic monitoring and analysis. Network traffic can be monitored via a firewall or intrusion detection system. An administrator may even set up rules that create an alert upon the detection of an anomalous traffic load and identify the source of the traffic or drops network packets that meet certain criteria.

　　If you think you or your business is experiencing a DoS or DDoS attack, it is important to contact the appropriate technical professionals for assistance.Contact your network administrator to confirm whether the service outage is due to maintenance or an in-house network issue. Network administrators can also monitor network traffic to confirm the presence of an attack, identify the source, and mitigate the situation by applying firewall rules and possibly rerouting traffic through a DoS protection service.Contact your ISP to ask if there is an outage on their end or even if their network is the target of the attack and you are an indirect victim. They may be able to advise you on an appropriate course of action.

If You Need Cybersecurity Help:

Hire Certified Ethical Hackers (CEH):
Legitimate cybersecurity professionals can test systems for vulnerabilities through penetration testing. Look for:
- Certifications like CEH, OSCP, or CISSP.
- Reputable firms (e.g., Bugcrowd, HackerOne, or Synack).
Report Cybercrimes:
If you’re a victim of hacking, contact:
- Local law enforcement.
- National agencies (e.g., FBI’s IC3, Action Fraud in the UK, or CERT).
Recover Accounts Legally:
For locked accounts or compromised devices:
- Use official recovery channels (e.g., platform support teams).
- Consult a tech professional for data recovery.

Avoid Scams and Risks:

Illegal "Hackers" Are Often Scammers: Many claim to offer hacking services but steal money/data or install malware.
Legal Consequences: Even attempting to hire a hacker for illegal acts can result in prosecution.