Towards the perfect DDoS attack: The perfect storm

This paper proposes a novel model for instigating the "perfect" DDoS attack. Our model uses a combination of network feedback and coordination of attack rates and protocols to achieve a high level of service deniability and low detectability. We demonstrate via extensive simulations that our attack model achieves a higher impact as compared to the Shrew and the RoQ (Reduction of Quality) attacks while the detectability is low. The model adopts botnets in executing/realizing the perfect storm/attack in a real network. We show that executing the attack is not difficult at all. We then briefly describe failures of recent and most relevant detection approaches in mitigating these attacks. The failures of these schemes demonstrate low detectability of our proposed "perfect storm".