DDoS Attacks and Tor Network

DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) is an advanced version of DoS, executed using multiple clients/machines. The attack focuses on overloading a single service with a large volume of rapid requests. When executed skillfully, the traffic appears legitimate; however, poorly implemented attacks are easily detectable and blockable.

The Tor network can be utilized for DDoS attacks to conceal an attacker's identity. However, its effectiveness is limited due to restricted exit bandwidth. That is, unless implementing the Tor's Hammer Attack.

Tor's Hammer Attack

This Layer7 DDoS Attack is characterized as a "low and slow" attack for several reasons:

• It's nearly impossible to filter and block
• Functions by slowly sending incomplete POST requests
• Maintains multiple open connections simultaneously

When the number of open connections exceeds the server's handling capacity, it becomes unable to accept connections from legitimate users. The attack works by:

1. Sending requests in single byte chunks
2. Forcing the server to keep connections open while waiting for the complete request payload
3. Utilizing the Tor network for anonymity
4. Generating requests from random IPs through Tor's infrastructure