The so-called amplifier attack sends counterfeit requests for information to Domain Name System
(DNS) servers, causing them to transmit larger amounts of data to the server that is the victim of the attack.
The term amplifier refers to the fact that the amount of data hitting the victim is substantially greater than that transmitted by the machines initiating the attack, explains Robert Fleischmann, chief technology officer of Simplicita, a Denver-based startup that focuses on fighting the computer “botnets” that generate such attacks.
Distributed denial of service attacks usually depend on unsuspecting users’ computers being turned into “zombies” that, as part of these botnets, bombard their victims with unwanted data traffic. Such botnets can also be used to spread viruses and worms and to generate spam. IT Business
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