What is a DDoS Hack and How Do You Avoid Them?

DDoS, it's fun to say,

terrible to experience.

It stands for Distributed Denial of Service,

a kind of attack that turns insecure

internet connected devices into sort of a zombie army,

which again, fun to say, but definitely bad.

My name is Brian Barrett.

I'm Wired's news editor,

and this is your guide to staying safe on the internet.

A DDoS works by harnessing vulnerable devices,

sometimes numbering in the millions,

and using them to flood a website with so much traffic

that it crashes.

And not just websites either.

Remember when the East Coast

lost a big chunk of the internet one day last fall?

Well, it did,

thanks to a DDoS that targeted not individual websites

but a company that provides the infrastructure

for those sites.

So, how do you stop it?

Well, you personally probably don't

unless you're a website that might be targeted

by activists or hackers or pranksters.

You're not a website.

And if you were, there are plenty of hosting services

that offer DDoS mitigation.

The real question is how do you make sure

that your specific devices haven't been enlisted

in one of those zombie armies called botnets.

First, change your router password.

Yes, your router has a password.

And botnets usually take advantage of devices

that stick with the default,

the one it shipped with.

Next, while you're in there anyway,

disable a feature called universal plug and play

in your router's settings.

It's like a little loophole that lets attackers in.

And you won't miss it when it's gone.

Honestly, that's about what it takes,

or at least it's a good first step.

It won't stop a DDoS from taking down your favorite site,

but at least, you won't be part of the problem.