How Long Does a DDoS Attack Last

How Long Does a DDoS Attack Last?

Exploring the duration of DDoS attacks

Before diving into how long a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack lasts, it's necessary to uncover how a DDoS attack works. DDoS attacks aim to overwhelm systems by sending illegitimate traffic to applications, websites, servers, or other network environments. The end goal is to bring the service offline, rendering it unavailable for users. There are many types of DDoS attacks, including volumetric attacks, state-exhaustion attacks, and application layer attacks.

Now It's Time to Dive into Duration

On average, DDoS attacks are fairly brief, with more than 60 percent of attacks lasting fewer than 10 minutes. On rare occasions, DDoS attacks can last longer than 12 hours, with the longest attacks lasting 7 days or longer. Many factors influence the duration of an attack, including mitigation efforts, detection capabilities, attack size, and attacker persistence. It should be noted that duration is not a measure of the size of an attack, because smaller attacks often go unnoticed for longer periods of time. In contrast, larger-scale attacks trigger alarm systems more quickly, leading to expedited mitigation efforts.

The Impact and Cost of DDoS Attacks

DDoS attacks can have various impacts on a business. First is revenue loss due to the lack of availability of key services, including payment processing, public-facing websites, or customer portals. Another impact is reputation loss. Inconsistent availability can make an organization look unprofessional and unprepared, damaging its public reputation. This can have a lasting effect on a business as it takes time to recover customer trust.

Detecting and Responding to DDoS Attacks

To cut the duration of a DDoS attack, you must learn to spot the signs of one occurring. Ideally, you will already have a DDoS detection solution in place. If not, look for performance degradations such as slow response; long load times; or unavailability of websites, applications, or other services. If you confirm that you are under attack and do not have a DDoS protection solution in place, the first step is to contact your internet service provider to see if it can provide mitigations. Once you have deployed available resources for mitigation, you need to monitor the attack until it ends. With swift attack detection and proper mitigation, the attack should be over quickly.

Future DDoS Attack Prevention

Having DDoS protection measures in place is paramount for enterprises and service providers. NETSCOUT's Arbor DDoS solution set is the industry leader in DDoS detection and mitigation technology. Preparation is the best form of protection, and with NETSCOUT Arbor, you can rest assured that you are protected from dynamic DDoS attacks.

Guard against DDoS with Arbor DDoS protection.