The Ping of Death: A Guide to Network Security
Ping of death is a malicious way to deny service to a networked device such as a computer. It can be done by sending an oversized ping packet that the victim’s system cannot handle, and this will result in the victim being unable to ping or connect with other systems on the Internet. This guide will help you understand how ping of death attacks work so that you can protect yourself from them!
What is the Ping of Death?
The ping of death is a ping attack that sends an oversized ping packet to the victim’s system. It is called “of death” because it can crash or reboot the victim’s machine, which makes it impossible for them to ping and connect with other systems on the Internet.
How Does Ping of Death Work?
There are two main ways that ping of death works.
- The first way is for the attacker to send a ping packet that is too big for the victim’s system – this will cause it to crash or reboot if it receives an oversized ping.
- The second way is by sending multiple packets, which can overflow memory buffers and make it impossible to ping other systems on the Internet.
What is the ping command?
The ping command sends an echo request to a specified domain. This will tell you if it exists, how many hops away it is from your device and what its IP address is.
If everything works properly, then ping should return with some information about the networked system that has been pinged – this information will include its IP address, how many hops away it is and the time of the request.
What are ping packets?
Ping packets are a series of data that are sent to another device using Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP). This protocol was created in order to test whether or not systems on an internetwork can communicate with each other.
How to Prevent the Ping of Death Attack?
It is important to protect your networked devices against the ping of death attack, as it can cause crashes and make you unable to connect with other systems on the Internet.
To prevent this from happening, there are a few things that you should do:
- You need to ensure that any device connected to your network does not have an oversized ping packet limit.
- You should also make sure that any networked device is not vulnerable to an ICMP flood attack, which will cause it to crash or reboot if there are too many echo requests being sent at one time.
If you follow these steps then your devices and systems should be safe from the ping of death!
Is the Ping of Death Attack Illegal?
The ping of death attack is a form of denial-of-service (DoS). Denial-of-service attacks are often used by hackers to disrupt the normal activity of an Internet site or service for legitimate users.
These types of attacks can be illegal, depending on what laws apply to your country and how you use them. However, there are many different types of DoS attacks, and the law regarding them can vary depending on where you live.
Why Would Someone use a Ping of Death Attack?
A Ping of Death attack is used to disrupt services, send spam or flood networks with data in order to take down a service. It’s also sometimes done as revenge for a previous attack or argument with another individual.
They can also be used to test the strength of systems on an internetwork, such as firewalls and intrusion detection devices. However, they are most commonly used by hackers looking for ways to disrupt services or take down networks.
Denial of Services via Ping of Death Attacks
Denial of services via ping of death attacks is a way to deny service for legitimate users by sending them oversized packets. It can also be used as revenge, or just out of curiosity about how strong the network and firewalls are.
Protect Yourself from Ping of Death Attacks
The best way to protect yourself from ping of death attacks is to make sure that your devices are not vulnerable and have proper limits on their packet sizes.
Additionally, protect yourself by using a firewall and keeping it enabled. The firewall will automatically block ping packets that are too big, which makes it impossible for anyone with bad intentions to do anything.
Another good thing you can do as part of your security plan is installing updates as soon as they come out. This is especially important for all network devices, such as routers and modems. If the manufacturer releases an update that includes a security patch, you should install it right away to make sure that your system isn’t vulnerable!
You should also make sure that your firewalls can detect these types of attack, as they use the same protocol for sending requests as legitimate users would.
It’s important that any networked device does not have the ping packet limit set too high – otherwise they will crash or reboot when receiving an oversized request.
These packets fill up memory buffers and make it impossible for the device to handle legitimate requests.
How does Ping of Death work?
It is a type of denial-of-service attack that sends oversized ping packets to the intended victim. It can crash or reboot networked devices when they are overwhelmed with requests at once.
Typically, this attack will send an echo request packet (ping) larger than 65,535 bytes back to itself from its destination IP address on port 80 using the IP protocol. This is more than enough to crash almost every operating system of that time.
It’s important to protect yourself from ping attacks, as they can cause a device (such as your computer) to overload and shut down or reboot unexpectedly.
Denial of Service Attacks
Denial of service (DoS) attacks are a way for hackers to disrupt the normal activity of an Internet site or service. There are many different types, but ping floods and denial-of-service via ping of death attacks are similar in that they use packets sent from one IP address to another in order to cause damage.
Types of DoS Attacks
There are many different types of denial-of-service attacks, including ping floods and other ways to overload the network. Ping flood is one way that hackers send an overwhelming amount of packets in order to take down a service or site.
Ping Floods – These can be used by any hacker looking for a way to disrupt services or take down networks.
Denial-of-Service via Ping of Death Attacks – These are similar to ping floods, but typically used as revenge for a previous attack by another individual.
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) Attacks – A distributed denial of service is when an attacker uses multiple machines in order to perform a DoS attack.
What does this mean for SMB?
This means that it is up to the SMB to ensure they have their devices set correctly in order to prevent shutdowns and crashes due to too many requests coming through at one time.
The SMB should not only monitor for large packets but also test security systems such as firewalls against these types of DoS attacks.
What does this mean for home users?
Home users have to ensure that their devices are not vulnerable to such attacks, and make sure they have a proper limit on the size of ping packets.
As with SMB’s, it is important that they test security systems like firewalls against these types of DoS attack as well.
In the News:
Several large companies were targeted with the Ping of Death attacks in the late 90s. These included companies like Microsoft, Dell, and Earthlink.
Summary
Ping of death is a type of denial-of-service attack that sends oversized ping packets to the intended victim.
It can crash or reboot networked devices when they are overwhelmed with requests at once, typically sending an echo request packet (ping) larger than 65,535 bytes back to itself from its destination IP address on port 80 using the IP protocol.
These types of attacks can be illegal depending on what laws apply in your country and how you use them.
However, there are many different types of DoS attacks which have varying consequences according to where you live.
The best way to protect yourself from these kinds of attacks is by making sure that any device connected does not have an oversized ping packet limit set too high – otherwise they will crash or reboot when receiving an oversized request.
