Is a DDos Attack illegal? Every thing you Should Know
Yes, It is illegal and prohibited by the Government, Performing a DDosing attack is a cybercrime.
It is completely illegal as defined by the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and cybercriminals may face imprisonment charges of a five million dollars ($5,00,000) Fine and ten years of jail.
DDosing, also known as Distributed denial of service attack, is a form of cyber attack where a server (the victim) is flooded with internet traffic and packets of spam data from various sources which might be computers or other servers, to make the victim server inaccessible.
Imagine you’re going home from a long day of work and you run into traffic, you will get home late and that is fine because that’s just how life works.
Now imagine someone intentionally ordered a bunch of people to clog the road with cars and barriers on your way home just so you get to suffer and have to wait for a long time.
This is essentially the gist of how DOS attacks work and how an attacker might attempt to freeze your servers.
Is DDosing illegal? Explained
Yes, it is a cyber crime in many countries. It is illegal as defined by the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the cyber criminals may face imprisonment charges.
The countries that signed the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, doesn’t matter if they have a law against it or not they will have to comply and treat it as a crime if the attack originated from their country.
In European countries, the suspect will at least be arrested no matter if they performed an SYN flood or some other method of dos, they will face legal charges.
In January of 2013, a petition was posted on the whitehouse gov website asking to recognize it as a form of protest because of its similarity occupy movement. The unaware servers that get exploited will during a denial of service attack also sue the attacker.
Adam Brown (Computer Security Expert) says, You can receive a prison sentence, a fine, or both, if you execute a DDoS attack or perform, provide or receive stress or booter services. A distributed service denial is referred to by DDOS.
In such an attack using this technique on a website, the computer user inundates a target Website with numerous service requests and overloads the server to slow down or discontinue requests or services, making the Website and its business inoperative.
Experienced users target a Web site with thousands of “zombie” botnets that could be corrupted with malicious software with bombardment. Cyber criminals take advantage of the attack to extort and compel corporations to pay for stopping the attack. There are websites that use these tactics to cripple opposing sites.
Whilst some observers defend DDOS targeting a website, it is illegal under the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act as a mass protest against an insulting website. Crimes of up to 10 years and up to $500,000 are subject to sentences. Conspiracy is prosecuted for up to five years and $250,000 in penalty.
What is a DDoS Attack?
As we discussed earlier, an online malicious attack, attacks the targeted server by interrupting that server’s regular traffic is DDos Attack.
This attack work by using different compromised PC frameworks as a source of assault traffic. Abused machines can incorporate PCs and other arranged assets, for example, IoT gadgets.
You can say this attack as an unexpected jam stopping up the highway, preventing ordinary traffic from reaching their destinations.
How Does a DDoS Attack Work?
To understand that, let’s first discuss how denial of service attacks works.
In simple denial of service attacks, the attacker uses a single server to send unusual internet traffic and useless packets of data to the target server or computer.
While in a distributed denial of service attack, the attacker infects a bunch of computers with malicious software and servers, which are then collectively known as a botnet, and uses these to flood the target machine with packets of data.
A sudden spike in incoming traffic will eventually shut down the victim server once the incoming packets of data exceed what the victim server can handle.
We also have a hard way of identifying the origin because all we can trace is the IP addresses of bots. We should also note that these can be different types of attacks depending on which the OSI model layer is targeted.
DOS attacks are called application layer attacks when the application layer is targeted. In application layer attacks, an attempt is made to directly freeze the application layer by utilizing CPU power.
Application Layer attacks are common as compared to other attacks such as DNS amplification.
Unlike application layer attacks, volumetric attacks are those attacks that try to overload the server instead of the application by sending a large number of packets to overload the server.
There is also an SYN flood attack which is a type of protocol attack. An SYN flood attack will target the TCP protocol of the internet by interrupting the 3-way handshake.
SYN flood attack does this by repeatedly connecting to a server without finishing the connection.
Is DDosing Illegal?
In both the UK and the US it’s specifically prohibited, by the Police and justice act 2006 in the former, and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in the latter. Most other countries have similar laws.
As for international DDoS, it depends on whether the victim can push for the case to be heard under their laws, since the law was broken in that country, regardless of the laws elsewhere (an example of this, not strictly DDoS, but still digital to another country would be the pirate bay case).
Between countries that have signed it, the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime could also apply if the DDoS attack was planned by a group of people (very likely), even if the source country doesn’t have a specific law against DDoS attacks.
If the target country has an applicable crime on the books which carries a sentence of at least 4 years, the source country would have to investigate and likely extradite the perpetrators.
For example, if a group in Belarus launched a DDoS attack against a target in the US, the US could demand cooperation under the Convention even if Belarus didn’t have a law against DDoS.
DDoSing is an Illegal cybercrime in the United States. A DDoS attack could be classified as a federal criminal offense under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). The use of booter services and stressers also violates this act.
DDOS Attack According to the Law
Distributed DOS attack is illegal as defined in the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of the United States and the attacker can face imprisonment for up to 10 years as well as fine charges in millions.
The owners of the exploited server which acted as bots can also sue the criminal.
However anonymous users argued on the whitehouse gov website that it could be considered a part of political activism due to it being very similar to the occupy movement.
It DDosing Illegal per US Title
- 18: Crimes and Criminal Procedures: Part 1 : Crimes: Chapter 47: Fraud and False Statements: Sections 1029 and 1030.
- According to the ECP Act, Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1984.
- Cyber Security Enhancement Act of 2002, the Patriot Act (which may have terminated), and a few others.
Not only that, According to the UK National Crime Agency(NCA). The computer misuse Act 1990 makes it illegal to purposefully impede a PC’s activity or get access to a program/information on a PC.
Is DDoS Illegal, Even If you DDoS Someone from Another Country?
As we said earlier, DDoS is illegal worldwide. So, it does not matter from which country you belong to.
Is DDoS Illegal, Even If you DDoS Someone from Another Country?
Yes, it is illegal everywhere and deemed a cyber crime. Most of the countries have direct laws against it.
Let’s suppose that a country doesn’t have a specific law on it but it has signed the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, it will have to comply with the other countries in case a DDOS attack originated from it.
How do I Trace DDoS Attacks?
It’s not very simple to trace a distributed DOS attack source that is hiding behind a network of a botnet that comprises thousands of machines.
It’s not very simple to trace a distributed DOS attack source that is hiding behind a network of a botnet that comprises thousands of machines.
Identifying the IP addresses of the bots won’t do much good because the actual source is still hidden. There will be thousands of machines performing the attack and the origin can be any one of the IP addresses.
The machines will be sending spam data without the consent of their users as they will have been infected from somewhere. So in simple terms, it is almost impossible to identify the trace.
How to Protect Website from DDoS Attack?
As we’ve discussed before, it is almost impossible to identify the attack source so instead, we should focus on how we can protect ourselves and increase our cyber security.
As we’ve discussed before, it is almost impossible to identify the attack source so instead, we should focus on how we can protect ourselves and increase our cyber security.
We can start by checking the status of the firewall of our web application or server. We can configure it so it somewhat detects any dos attacks and stops them.
Following are some tips you can take to make sure you are protected against dos attackers:
- Keep your firewall settings updated. You’d be surprised how many people don’t have their firewall properly configured and their cyber security not properly optimized. You should get your cyber security configured by an internet administrator who knows what they are doing.
- Keep track of your web traffic activity. It’s pretty common to tell that something is wrong when you notice a sudden spike in the incoming traffic. A lot of damage can be prevented if DOS attacks get recognized early on.
- Make sure your network is secured from every end so no margin of error remains. Use best practices and don’t stop hiring a professional to do it for you.
How to Report a Ddos Attack?
If you’ve been a victim of a cyber crime of dos attacks, you should report it to your internet service provider with any evidence you might have.
You should also contact your local department in case you feel threatened.
Your local police department will be able to help you further. In the case of web applications, you should contact the support of your hosting provider and also let them know of the cause.
DOS attacks are not to be taken lightly and you can surely sue the attacker, as a lot of damage can be caused and service can be interrupted for users.
Is It Illegal to Ddos Someone’s Wifi?
As long as the type of attack and the technique is some form of DDos such as sending a large number of syn packets or spam data.
And you do it without the consent of the victim, legal action can be taken against you such as a prison sentence.
Frequently Asked Questions about Is DDosing Illegal
What is the full form of DDoS?
DDoS stands for Distributed Denial of Service.Are DDoS attacks illegal in the U.S?
Yes, these attacks are illegal and prohibited by the Government, You’ll be imposed a five million dollars ($5,00,000) fine and ten years of jail if you founded the suspect of a DDoS attack.How to Report DDoS Attacks?
You can contact your ISP(Internet Service Provider) or web host to prevent this attack. And if you want a serious action against DDos attack you can simply file a case in a national internet crime agency.
Will a VPN stop DDoS?
Yes, VPN (Virtual Private Network) can prevent any DDoS attack. Because it changes your IP address and assigns you a new IP address remotely by using your data traffic. Due to different IP addresses, the attacker won’t be able to find your actual server’s location. So, VPN stops DDoS attacks.
Are DDoS attacks dangerous?
Many people do not take these attacks seriously. Because they think hackers can’t steal any information by this attack but these attacks can damage an organization’s reputation, productivity, and uptime.
Which is more dangerous DOS or DDoS?
DDoS attacks are dangerous than DOS attacks. Dos can be blocked easily because one system is used in DO. DDoS can’t be stopped easily because different devices send packets from a different location.
Conclusion – Is DDosing Illegal
You should now have enough knowledge about the legality of denial of service attacks.
It is a serious crime and can land the perpetrator in jail for up to 10 years of prison time and a fine of up to 5 million.
Ddosing is illegal in the Unites States as defined by the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. It is also illegal worldwide, directly and indirectly.
You should know that all websites are prone to DDoS attacks and one can only do so much to prevent them.
Just keep your servers secure and your firewall properly configured. Don’t shy away from getting help from professionals if you aren’t what you are doing.
In case you do notice that an attack is ongoing, immediately take precautionary measures and contact your host provider.
Hope you got the answer of:
Is DDosing Illegal?
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