DNS Amplification

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DNS Amplification 

In February 2022, hackers launched massive, amplified distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks through Mitel, a global business communications company. The attack pummeled financial institutions, broadband ISPs, logistics and gaming companies, and other organizations. Able to sustain DDoS attacks for up to 14 hours, with a record-breaking amplification factor of almost 4.3 billion to one, attacks like this are capable of shutting down voice communications and other services for entire organizations with a single malicious network packet.

What you need to know: Though DNS amplification, a type of DDoS attack, has been around for a long time, the exploitation techniques keep evolving. The attack is similar to DNS hijacking in the sense that it takes advantage of the internet’s directory by misconfiguring it. But the way the attacks occur are slightly different. A DNS amplification attack typically involves sending a small amount of information to a vulnerable network service that causes it to reply with a much larger amount of data. By directing that response at a victim, an attacker can put in a relatively low amount of effort while making other people’s machines do all the work of flooding a selected target offline

 

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