There aren't many things in this life that endure for more than 20 years, especially when it comes to computers. Hardware, software, services and even websites tend not to have a shelf life that extends into two decades. Yet website owners still find themselves staring down the barrel of a type of distributed denial of service attack that has been in use since 1996. It's high time SYN floods stopped being effective, so here's a rundown on what they are and what you can do to stop them.

Details on DDoS

Basically, DDoS attacks use a botnet – a network of internet-connected devices that have been hijacked for remote use – to overwhelm a targeted website or server with malicious traffic, leaving it too slow to be used or offline altogether. DDoS attacks are a major threat to websites, and that threat is only growing as DDoS for hire services gain popularity and botnets comprised of unsecured Internet of Things devices fire off attacks of previously unseen sizes.