Question

Consider the following threats to Web security, and describe how each is countered by a particular feature of SSL.

A.SYN Flooding: An attacker sends TCP SYN messages to request a connection but does not respond to the final message to establish the connection fully. The attacked TCP module typically leaves the "half-open connection" around for a few minutes. Repeated SYN messages can clog the TCP module.

Answer 1

Answer:

There is no protection given by any particular feature of SSL.

Explanation:

A SYN flood (half-open attack) is a type of denial-of-service (DDoS) attack which aims to make a server unavailable to legitimate traffic by consuming all available server resources. The aim of the SYN flood is to exploit the handshake process of a TCP connection. This is because the SSL protocol starts only after a successful TCP handshake. The SYN flood attacks try to exhaust a system so that no successful TCP handshakes can be done. Therefore, SSL can no provide any protection against SYN flooding.