An IP stresser (or booter/stresser service) is a service that allows users to perform DDoS attacks on websites and web services. They work by providing access to a network of compromised devices that be used to bombard a target with traffic. Users pay a subscription fee to rent these botnets for a certain period to launch an attack. The botnets consist of thousands of infected computers, routers, IoT devices, etc. located across the globe.
When commanded, they overwhelm the target website or server with fake requests, causing it to crash due to the volume. Attackers use IP stressers to take down servers and websites for various motives – unscrupulous competition, personal grudges, cybercrime, hacktivism, etc. The results range from minor disruption to complete denial of service. For businesses, this translates to revenue losses due to site downtime and damage to reputation.
Prevent ip stresser ddos attacks
Know your traffic
Having visibility into your normal website traffic patterns, sources, and volumes is key to detecting anomalies indicative of a DDoS attack. Use web analytics to establish baselines for parameters like:
- Number of requests per second
- Amount of bandwidth consumed
- Number of concurrent connections
- Typical IP addresses hitting the site
Regularly monitor traffic in real-time to spot any deviations from normal behavior, such as a sudden spike in traffic from new IP addresses.
Increase bandwidth
Scale up your network capacity to handle large traffic spikes during an attack. Having sufficient headroom ensures your website doesn’t buckle under the overload. What does an IP Booter do? Work with your hosting provider or cloud service to provision additional bandwidth when required. For example, scale up at short notice or divert traffic to other sites.
Use web application firewalls
A WAF inspects incoming traffic and filters out malicious requests designed to exploit web application vulnerabilities. It detects and blocks patterns such as an abrupt surge in traffic, high numbers of requests from a single IP, etc. Configure custom rules to protect against common attack vectors like SQL injection, cross-site scripting, etc. Make sure to keep the WAF rules updated as new threats emerge.
Limit connections per ip
Don’t allow a single IP address to open too many simultaneous connections to your web server, as this is a giveaway tactic used in DDoS attacks.
Set a reasonable threshold limit and deny additional connections from breaching IPs. It prevents your servers from getting overwhelmed by a swarm of requests.
Use CAPTCHAs
Challenge users with CAPTCHA tests to weed out incoming malicious bot traffic the more advanced reCAPTCHA service by Google even uses machine learning to distinguish humans from bots. Use CAPTCHAs on login pages, registration forms, comment submissions,s, etc. But don’t overuse them across your website as that annoys genuine users.
Block bad ips
Blacklist and block IPs that are known sources of attacks, have a bad reputation, or are triggering suspicious activity. Maintain an IP blocklist that is dynamically updated. Banning IPs outright may lead genuine users sharing the same IP to get blocked. So consider rate-limiting incoming connections from dubious IPs instead of blocking them outright.
Enable ssl/tls encryption
Encrypting connections using SSL/TLS prevents certain types of DDoS exploits possible on unsecured HTTP websites. It also hampers attackers from spying on or extracting sensitive user data. Upgrade older protocols to TLS 1.2 or later. Enforce perfect forward secrecy, and disable weak ciphers that are vulnerable to attacks.
