nanog mailing list archives

Re: NTP DRDos Blog post


From: John <jw () nuclearfallout net>
Date: Thu, 20 Feb 2014 11:37:57 -0800

On 2/20/2014 9:17 AM, Jared Mauch wrote:
I'll split the difference, folks in operational security dislike the term as they
feel it's inaccurate.  They tend to think it's marketing vs operational related.

Reflection attacks are considered a sub-type of DoS/DDoS and do not require a new
term.  It's the same problem folks have with absolute terms like "Unlimited Data"
with the asterisk.

Can I direct the knife-fights about that part off-list? :)  (and preferably exclude me,
i get enough email).

This is not a new term (certainly >12yo) and one that I see as useful, just as it is useful to differentiate between a DoS and a DDoS. That extra "D" tells you that it's "distributed". Add an "R" and now it's "reflected" -- an important difference.

If it's seen as being recently co-opted and misused by marketing people, then that's a shame. But its practicality trumps that in my eyes. And I am definitely on the operational security side here.

I do generally prefer "X reflection/amplification attack", as Roland suggested, as it is more specific.

-John


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