3. Distributed denial-of-service A popular attack tool among novice hackers prev

Question

3. Distributed denial-of-service A popular attack tool among novice hackers previously has been the Low Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC), which features a user-friendly GUI as well as an option to voluntarily add vourself to a botnet controlled via an IRC channel. We do not recommend installing or using LOIC.! (a) LOIC is a fairly simple program. The source file at https://goo.gl/6d4EUX contains the primary attack mechanism. Briefly, how does this mechanism work? (b) The LOIC command and control system ("Hive Mind mode") is also fairly simple. It is described in the README file at https://goo.gl/mpu9ZU. Briefly, how does this mechanism work? (c) Other than client puzzles, what are some things a website could do to defend itselif against a LOIC Hive Mind attack? If the attack involves thousands of bots, how can the server distinguish them from legitimate clients? (d) Briefly, compare and contrast LOIC Hive Mind mode to a typical botnet.

Explanation / Answer

a) LOIC performs a Denial Of Service(Dos) attack on the target sever and floods it with TCP/UDP/HTTP packets to disturb it.After its launched LOIC opens multiple connections for a target server. It then sends a continuous series of messages until the server becomes overloaded and can’t respond to legitimate requests.

b) In HIVEMIND mode users can connect their client to an IRC server and it can be controlled remotely. In this mode thousands of systems attack a single website to make significant impact. The more people involved the attack via IRC, the more powerful the attack becomes.

c)  Server administrator can monitor the request logs to identify and block such IP's, from which illgetimate requests are arising, from the server. But in simple cases a well-configured firewall is enough to prevent the attack from being highly effective.

d) Typical botnets tend to use domains rather than IRC in their architecture. In these a central computer accesses a domain which serves the list of controlling commands. Whereas in HIVE MIND there are multiple clients trying to flood the domain seperately making it harder to detect and defend from. Even though typical botnets can be easily controlled and maintained with very simple code they require huge amounts of bandwidth and can be defended against very easily.

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