Detection and Mitigation of Low-Rate Denial-of-Service Attacks: A Survey

TLDR: This survey summarizes and complements previous studies and surveys related to this specific type of attack and proposes a taxonomy of the LDoS attacks, which were divided into three broad categories based on their modus operandi: QoS attacks, Slow rate attacks, and Service queue attacks.

Abstract: The potential for being the target of Denial of Service (DoS) attacks is one of the most severe security threats on the Internet. Attackers have been modifying their attack format over the years, damaging specific conditions of operating systems and protocols in an attempt to deny or diminish the quality of the service provided to legitimate users. Nowadays, attacks are stealthier and mimic legitimate user traffic in such a way that detection mechanisms against High-rate DoS attacks are no longer sufficient. This evolving type of attack, known as LDoS (Low-rate Denial of Service) attacks, has the potential to produce more damage than its predecessor due to its stealth nature and the lack of suitable detection and defense methods. This survey summarizes and complements previous studies and surveys related to this specific type of attack. First, we propose a taxonomy of the LDoS attacks, which were divided into three broad categories based on their modus operandi: QoS attacks, Slow rate attacks, and Service queue attacks. Next, we detail numerous detection mechanisms and counter-measures available against eight types of LDoS attacks. More specifically, we describe the methods used to throttle the attack traffic. Finally, we provide a feature comparison table for some existing attack tools. This survey aims at providing an extensive review of the literature for helping researchers and network administrators find up-to-date knowledge on LDoS attacks.