DOS ATTACK MOTIVES

The Internet has experienced numerous cases of DoS attacks. Unfortunately, due to the nature and existing inherited drawbacks of current Internet-centric protocols, these attacks are likely to stay with us for a long time, causing havoc and financial losses to thousands of organizations all over the world.

As we have already stated, the usual cause behind the attacks from experienced Black Hat hackers is to achieve some level of remote control (be it enable or unprivileged access) over the device. Therefore, the main reason why these attacks are uncommon among experienced hackers is that after successfully performing a series of DoS attacks, the device or targeted equipment becomes useless or obsolete for the duration of the attack or until the device is restarted. This scenario is usually true unless the attacked device is being specifically targeted to disable its operations as a part of some malicious "master plan."

In contrast, many unskilled hackers who do not manage to gain remote access to a device are likely to be frustrated, pitiful people who also show their underdeveloped egos by bragging on Internet Relay Chat (IRC) channels or underground message boards to increase their device frag count. These attackers will try to crash the device by all means possible to satisfy their egos and boast about such "marvelous" achievements to their virtual friends . What motivates different types of crackers to perform DoS attacks? The list of reasons can go on forever, but here are just a few of them:

• Industrial and corporate competition

• Profit- related causes (racketeers or mafia)

• Political or social reasons

• Having fun

• Bragging rights

• Revenge

• Hatred