Is Network Shield able to prevent DOS Attacks...?

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

Hi… I wonder, Network Shield in Avast is able to prevent DOS (Denial of Service Attacks)…?

And one more, is it able to detect and remove all types of trojan virus…?

2

There is no way to stop a DOS attack. A DOS works by repeatedly requesting a response thus tieing up all network resources. No software can prevent this.

-Bob

3

The attack detection (DOS) feature is in many freeware firewalls dude… Not sure about in AV… Thats why, on first seeing this option in a AV, i wondered… :wink:

4

The DOS attack may bring down the devices on your network (router, …) - or even outside of your network. So, while you can hardly do anything about it from your computer, the result is the same - your machine is unreachable.

5

So igor… is there anyway to block it… ???

6

The short answer is no, it is similar to the idea of you being sprayed with a fire hose, you could put up a wall to block the water but you won’t be able to send anything out. The easiest way of dealing with a dedicated DOS against you is changing your IP address, which isn’t always possible. Fortunately such an attack is rare and almost pointless against a home user anyway.

7

Thanks Dude…

8

I’m not sure, about network attacks I’m not an expert, but I think a Secure VPN connection to a proxy server may help you a few to protect your real IP address and give you a more chance to prevent DOS (and other) attacks, but anyway I don’t know so much about it and it’s better you get your answer from our other experts.

9

As Flyrfan111 mentions this is rare against normal home users as they generally don’t have a fixed IP address, but one randomly assigned by your ISP.

So it isn’t a targeted weapon against the individual or that specific IP address, unless you have a fixed IP address then that IP could have a DDOS attack directed against it, usually accompanied with demands for money, organised crime.

So regular users are unlikely to come across this type of problem and if you did disconnect from the internet and reconnect, that should have a new randomly assigned IP allocated by the ISP.

10

Thank you David.
I know it’s not a popular kind of attack for home users and usually go hurt server domains and such as. but we imagine some one crazy want to do this with me, in the situation does VPN server proxy help or not? and at all does VPN proxy server has any benefit and good thing for home users (instead of Iran and China users who get rid of hard internet censorship ;D and bypass embargo for Iranian users)
does this hiding IP by replace server proxy IP address help protect us if we use a weak firewall?

11

I honestly don’t know, but a VPN server proxy still has to deliver to your IP address and that simply can’t be masked or you wouldn’t be able to get your data (it knows your IP), so if there was a ddos attack on your IP address then I don’t believe that the VPN proxy would be able to connect (or deliver) to your IP address.

I don’t believe using an VPN and hidden IP (it isn’t hidden from all as I mentioned above) would work for a weak firewall as any attack is directed to an IP address (that can be a random attack on a randomly selected IP) and isn’t routed through any VPN or server proxy.

12

NO, a VPN wouldn’t accomplish anything. Just about any firewall will drop the packets coming in during a DDOS against your IP, so no damage would be done to your computer, it isn’t a malware attack. The problem comes from the fire hose effect I mentioned, your computer/router wouldn’t be able to send anything out to your ISP, whether it’s encrypted in a VPN or just web browsing or checking your email, nothing will be able to get out because of the constant bombardment of traffic coming in, which is why it’s called a denial of service attack in the first place, you would be denied the ability to use your internet service. It is extremely rare against a home user and would be rather pointless. A dedicated hacker with such an ability would be extremely unlikely to expose his network for the purpose of hitting a home user, the large amount of traffic being generated would make the attacker’s network/botnet easily visible and identifiable. This type of incident or attack is usually reserved for large networks or sites.

13

Thanks 2 u all… Now I got a clear idea of DOS Attack…

14

You’re welcome.