Smurf-based Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attack Amplification in Internet

The Smurf-based distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack is an amplification attack where the attacker uses unprotected intermediate networks to amplify the attack traffic load and direct it to the victim computer. In this paper, we investigate the factors that contribute to the amplification of the smurf attack traffic and understand the relation among the original attack traffic, intermediate unprotected network and the final amplified attack traffic. We also define a new term called attack amplification factor which represents the degree of amplification that original attack traffic undergoes during its transmission towards the victim computer. It is also shown in this paper that utilizing this attack, it is possible for an attacker to just use a dialup modem and an unprotected intermediary network to exhaust even an ultra high speed optical line such as OC-192 of the victim network.