Gadget Headlines

Blockchain Smartphones: From Crypto Vaults to Meta Gateways

Post author By DMG Webmaster
Post date April 23, 2023

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Blockchain smartphones are the avant-garde devices propelling us into a new era where seamless interaction with Web3 apps, next-generation privacy features, and strict security for digital assets has become the norm. These nifty gadgets offer unrivaled privacy and security for our digital assets while unlocking seamless interactions with decentralized applications (dApps). As smartphone industry titans wade into these uncharted waters, a tidal wave of groundbreaking inventions is set to wash over the mobile world.

Although each device sports its unique combination of features, they all share a common goal: to emphasize blockchain, crypto, and decentralized applications beyond the capabilities of a standard smartphone. Many offer secure self-custody of crypto assets, while some even support running a full Bitcoin node or mobile crypto-mining. Integration with other crypto projects, like the SlotFever Casino, is also one of the main unique selling points of the industry, and today we’re going to explore it. Let’s jump in to the market overview!

Top Blockchain Smartphones on the Market

Although blockchain smartphones have yet to conquer the mainstream, a select few have made their mark and won the hearts of crypto enthusiasts. However, remember that blockchain phones follow the principle that you get what you pay for, where more affordable models may not match the advanced features of their high-end counterparts. Curated just for you, here’s our roundup of the most notable blockchain smartphones currently available.

The FINNEY Phone: A Crypto Connoisseur’s Dream

The Sirin Labs’ FINNEY phone is a feature-rich device tailored for crypto enthusiasts. It includes a built-in hardware wallet that manages transactions and offers exceptional security for users’ private keys. Additionally, it comes with an integrated token conversion tool, enabling effortless swapping between various cryptocurrencies.

Priced at $999 on Sirin Labs’ official website, the FINNEY phone is a tempting option for those seeking to merge the best of blockchain and conventional smartphone technology. For those eager to explore digital currencies, the FINNEY phone offers Sirin Labs’ “Learn and Earn” rewards system, allowing users to study specific cryptocurrencies and earn rewards. Underneath, it shares similarities with the HTC Exodus 1, featuring a Snapdragon 845 chip, 6GB RAM, 128GB storage, and a camera setup with a 12MP rear and 8MP front shooter.

Pundi X Blok on Blok (BOB)

The Pundi X Blok on Blok (BOB) challenges the status quo, merging modularity with the power of blockchain technology. Its distinctive appearance and innovative features make it a fascinating addition to the expanding realm of blockchain smartphones. While the original Pundi XPhone prototype maintained a familiar design, the upcoming BOB edition takes a daring leap into modularity. The BOB is a feast for the senses, sporting an array of snap-together attachments, complete with latches and dials.

The BOB allows users to toggle between two operating systems as needed; An open-source X OS powers the blockchain mode (encompassing all of BOB’s decentralized processes), while the Android mode offers a familiar experience akin to traditional Android-powered devices. Interestingly, the company also claims that users won’t require a central service provider for making calls or accessing the internet on the Blok on Blok.

Electroneum M1: The Blockchain Enthusiast’s Pocket-Friendly Companion

Electroneum, primarily known for its versatile software wallet, has boldly ventured into the smartphone arena with its Electroneum M1. This device fuses cloud mining prowess with a wallet-friendly appeal. Embracing its role as a “cost-conscious Android smartphone,” the Electroneum M1 proudly sports a price tag below $100. Despite this low price tag, it still incorporates 4G capabilities, 8GB storage, and front and rear cameras.

It’s worth noting that certain sacrifices come into play, as with many budget offerings. The M1’s mediocre display and camera quality may not satisfy those accustomed to more premium devices. As such, the Electroneum M1 serves as an ideal secondary device for blockchain-curious individuals who prefer not to splurge on a high-end phone.

KlaytnPhone: A Powerhouse Collaboration for Blockchain Enthusiasts

Samsung, a household name in the smartphone industry, joined forces with Ground X to create the KlaytnPhone—a flagship blockchain phone operating on the Klaytn network. This collaboration gave rise to the KlaytnPhone, a device that encapsulates the best of both worlds—superior design and innovative blockchain technology wrapped in one sleek package.

At first glance, the KlaytnPhone bears a striking resemblance to the Galaxy Note 10 in terms of design. However, the KlaytnPhone distinguishes itself from its sibling through a suite of Web3-centric features. Users can effortlessly access various blockchain-driven services, while the KlaytnPhone’s private key manager ensures top-notch asset security. Furthermore, each device comes with a generous bonus of 2,000 free KLAY tokens, allowing users to dive into the native dapp store and discover a plethora of Web3 games and blockchain applications.

Solana Saga: Reigniting the Crypto and Blockchain Hype

The Solana Saga, a cutting-edge blockchain phone conceived by Solana Labs and asset management firm OSOM, has set the stage for a resurgence of interest in blockchain technology within the smartphone domain. Built upon the Solana blockchain for its web3 functionality, this groundbreaking device boasts several features that cater to the evolving needs of modern users.

Among its many standout attributes is the Solana Mobile Stack (SMS) Software Development Kit, a Web3-first SDK that allows users to tailor their experiences by crafting bespoke tools and apps. The Solana Saga also has a “seed vault” for secure private key storage, Solana Pay for QR code payments, a mobile wallet adapter, and a dedicated DApp store.

Slated for launch in early 2023, with shipping set to commence soon after, the Solana Saga aspires to invigorate the Solana ecosystem and inspire smartphone users to embrace the Web3 revolution at approximately $1000.

HTC Desire 22 Pro: Affordable Metaverse Access in the Palm of Your Hand

The HTC Desire 22 Pro, a mid-range crypto phone from the creators of the groundbreaking Exodus 1, offers affordability and virtual reality capabilities. Users can enjoy an immersive metaverse experience through the innovative Viverse Ecosystem by streaming content to the VIVE Flow headset.

The Desire 22 Pro provides secure Vive wallets for storing digital assets like NFTs, cryptocurrencies, and crypto-powered Vive marketplaces. This captivating device, launched on August 1, 2022, and retailing at around $400, brings the exciting world of metaverse and crypto within reach for many.

HTC Exodus 1 – The Original Blockchain Phone

Since its launch in late 2019, the HTC Exodus 1 has gained popularity, thanks in part to HTC’s established reputation in the smartphone industry. The device’s success can also be attributed to its unique features, such as the built-in hardware wallet and private vault called Zion. This secure component within the phone stores users’ private keys for various cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and ERC-20 and ERC-721 tokens.

Zion’s Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) adds another level of security by conducting and signing transactions in an isolated area, protecting against malware. The Exodus 1 also offers a sharp 6″ Quad HD+ screen, a powerful Snapdragon 845 processor, a high-quality dual-lens rear camera, and a 3,500mAh battery.

HTC has introduced two successors: the Exodus 1s and Exodus 1 – Binance Edition. Each version offers unique features and pricing, with the Binance Edition catering to crypto enthusiasts with native support for Binance’s decentralized exchange and chain. At the same time, the Exodus 1s allows running a full Bitcoin node from an SD card.

The Future of Blockchain Phones

Blockchain phones are transforming the way we engage with blockchain networks and cryptocurrencies. Gone are the days of envisioning colossal, power-hungry mining rigs as the sole means of participating in blockchain consensus. Today, battery-operated handheld devices bring crypto mining right into the palms of our hands, lowering the barrier of entry to the crypto sphere. With over 80% of adults worldwide owning or regularly using a smartphone, the surging popularity of Web3 technologies implies that blockchain phones could play a significant role in introducing crypto to millions of people in the coming years.

Hardware

Space Heaters – An Essential for Offices and Gaming Rooms

Post author By DMG Webmaster
Post date July 4, 2022

A small space heater allows you to thoroughly heat a space, and the objects in it, with ease. You will, by reading this guide, learn how much electricity a small space heater uses, and how to reduce this electricity usage.

What Is A Small Space Heater?

A space heater is a heater that’s used to heat up small and medium-sized spaces. Rather than being large and cumbersome, space heaters tend to be light and portable. Given this fact, a small space heater is a device specifically used to heat small spaces. Just like a regular space heater, a small space heater is portable. This makes it easy for you to bring the heater into other small spaces.

What Can You Do With A Small Space Heater?

Small space heaters offer anywhere from 200 to 600 watts of power. You can use this power to thoroughly heat a space that is around 50 square-feet. One of the most common uses we see nowadays are within the gaming industry, where players who want to keep hands warm while gaming usually employ small heaters around their station. Heating larger spaces, while possible, can be challenging.

Some examples of spaces that are within the 50 square-feet range include:

A Personal Office
Bathroom
Small Bedroom
Studio Apartment Living Room
Dedicated gaming room

Each one of these spaces can be thoroughly heated with a small space heater.

How Does A Space Heater Work?

Right before we dive into this question, there are two primary types of space heaters to be aware of. The two types of space heater are:

You can use an infrared space heater to heat objects – a bed or desk, for example – as well as people, such as yourself. But, you can’t use an infrared heater to heat every inch of a space. You can use a convection space heater to heat the air within this space. This allows every inch within a space to receive this heat and to, in turn, warm up considerably. No matter the space heater you choose, you will have access to several heat settings. Each one of these settings determines the number of watts the heater is using and the heat it produces.

Selecting a higher heat setting will use more watts and, in turn, more electricity. Selecting a lower heat setting will use fewer watts and, as you might expect, less electricity.

How Much Electricity Does A Small Space Heater Use?

Small space heaters tend to offer around 200 to 600 watts of electricity. You can select a particular heat setting and, in doing so, determine the number of watts the heater uses per-hour.

Just as an example, let’s say you turn your small space heater to 600 watts. Doing so means that your space heater will use 600 watts of electricity, every single hour it is running.

Since electric companies charge by kilowatts, and since 1000 watts is 1 kilowatt, we can turn that 600 watts into 0.6-kilowatts. Let’s say you run your small space heater at 600 watts, for 50 hours, throughout the month. You can multiply 0.6 kilowatts by 50, which is 30 kilowatts. Right after doing so, you can take your electric rate and find out how much 1 kilowatt costs. You can then multiply that cost by the number of kilowatts your small space heater has consumed.

What Is The Best Way To Reduce The Cost Of Running A Small Space Heater?

To reduce the cost of running a small space heater, you can:

Purchase A Space Heater With Energy-Efficient Features
Wear Warm, Cozy Clothing
Make Use Of The 10W-Per-Square-Foot Principle

The last one is the most useful.

Every square-foot, within a space, equates to roughly 10 watts of power.

Since this is the case, if your bedroom is 40 square-feet, you can set your space heater to 400 watts. By doing so, you will be able to heat the objects within the space/the space in its entirety.

Or, like Linus, just build a dedicated gaming PC that can act as a heater, that is also a solution:

Conclusion

No matter the small space heater you use, as long as you select the appropriate wattage and take electricity-reducing measures, your electricity bill will remain low.

Software

How to Surf the Web on a PS5

Post author By DMG Webmaster
Post date February 27, 2022

At this point in time, Sony isn’t offering a web browsing app on the PS5. Unlike other console releases that the company has had, the app doesn’t come standard, and there is no option to download an app from the Playstation Network, or PSN. For many people, this seems to be a warning that the system isn’t able to be modified or jailbroken.

However, this simply wasn’t the case. A web browser is able to be accessed on the PS5, and you just have to know how to do it. EsportsHeadlines.com gave us a basic understanding on how to access the internet browser on PS5, and today we’re going to show you our twist on the method.

Accessing a Web Browser on the PS5

The below steps are going to explain to PS5 users how a web browser can be accessed, even without an official application. This will enable access to websites across the internet.

Step 1: Access the Settings menu

This is going to be located at the top left of the PS5’s home screen.

Step 2: Locate and open the User’s Guide

The User’s Guide is located under the User’s Guide, Health and Safety, and Other Information section in the Settings menu.

The User’s Guide is a web page that users are taken to in a web browser. However, the application that opens the User’s Guide doesn’t allow users to navigate to other web pages.

Step 3: Navigate to the playstation.com/help hyperlink

This hyperlink takes you to Playstation’s Help website. On the website, you’ll find several different links.

Step 4: Select any one of the 6 links below the Search bar

Any one of these links should work. Each of the links leads to another Help section web page that has a YouTube video embedded into it.

Step 5: Play the YouTube video, and travel to the YouTube website

When the YouTube video begins to play, a link will appear in the bottom right corner of the video, allowing you to travel to the main YouTube website when clicked. YouTube will ask you to sign in, which you can ignore. However, you do have to agree to their service terms and conditions.

Step 6: Click the “Share” button on the YouTube video and “Share to Reddit”

By sharing the video to Reddit, the browser will redirect you to Reddit’s website. You’ll be asked to login to Reddit. When doing so, select the “Continue with Google” option that you are given.

Step 7: Select the Privacy hyperlink at the bottom of the page

When you’re redirected to the Google sign-in page, there will be links at the bottom of the page. Select the link labeled Privacy.

Step 8: Select the Google Privacy and Terms link in the top left corner of the page

The Privacy hyperlink navigates you to Google’s Privacy and Terms page. The next step is to navigate to the Privacy and Terms homepage by clicking the logo/ link in the top left corner of the page.

Step 9: Click the link to Google at the bottom of the page

At the bottom of Google’s Privacy and Terms homepage, there will be a hyperlink labeled Google. Clicking this link takes you to the Google homepage.

Step 10: Use the Google Search box to navigate to other websites

By searching for websites using Google, you’ll be able to travel to them. The browser will function similarly to a web browser application, with the exception of the fact that you can’t use the address bar.

Things to Remember

This is not the official Playstation 5 web browser app. As such, you cannot navigate to any website you’d like by typing it in. Instead, the process requires you to navigate the links above and then use Google to search for the websites you’d like to visit.

On the other hand, this also means that you have to navigate back to Google to be able to visit a new website if you plan to. It may be a good idea to search for specific web pages within the website you’re visiting, especially if you don’t plan on spending a lot of time on the web page. Then, to get back to Google, you’ll have to go through the same steps listed above.

Does Sony Plan on Releasing an Official Web Browser App for the PS5?

If the system settings indicate anything, then an official web browser app is in the cards for the PS5. Under the menu titled System, there is an option that toggles settings for the web browser. As such, it’s likely that a native web browser is being developed.

Hardware

Steam Deck Competitors: Which One Will Remain Standing Post-Release?

Post author By DMG Webmaster
Post date January 29, 2022

Handheld PC. A name that is typically used to refer to portable gaming consoles with complete desktop operating systems. Valve’s Steam Deck is just but one of them, a single entity among the many models already out there. Every one of them has a single mission:

Provide a technologically superior option to the aging Nintendo Switch.

Naturally, due to their similar objectives, competition is inevitable. Would the Steam Deck prevail against them? Let’s go through some of the top contenders available now and in the near future.

Level of Competition We Are Looking For

Anything that comes near or over the Steam Deck’s theoretical performance is, of course, an instant inclusion. More specifically, though, a worthy-ish Steam Deck contender might have one or more of the following things:

Operating system usability, not just in usage but in types as well.
Heavy promotion of a particular (reasonable) game type specialty
Superior ergonomics can dictate the long-term use aspect of a handheld PC.
If availability and price make a specific model significantly more accessible.
Unique product features might make it more interesting to buy regardless of specs.
Cooling system serviceability. Good heat dissipation is a requirement, NOT a feature.
Storage upgrades, ideally like the Steam Deck SD Card.

Steam Deck Best Potential Competitors Overview

GPD Win Max 2021
Aya Neo NEXT (Pro)
OneXPlayer 1S

GPD Win Max 2021

Display	8-inch 1280×800 IPS touchscreen
CPU	Ryzen 7 4800U or Core i7-1195G7
GPU	Radeon VEGA 8CU, Iris Xe G7 96EU
RAM	16GB LPDDR4X 4266Mhz
Storage	1TB NVMe SSD

GDP is technically one of the earliest within the handheld PC gaming space, introducing products such as the very first GDP Win in 2016. With the competition now in full swing, newer models of its lineup needed to keep up with the times. Incorporating the Ryzen 4000 mobile and Intel Tiger Lake was a significant step towards this, making the portable machines game-worthy for 720p gaming at stable frame rates and doubling as an entirely usable laptop.

Yes, laptop. Unlike other models that opted for a complete gaming console look, GPD kept the clamshell design, putting gamepad controls at the upper end of the keyboard and behind its chassis. As a result, it is less ergonomic but somewhat more functional. Moreover, it immediately puts a unique factor on it that could help make it still somewhat worth getting despite the “monstrous” performance of the Steam Deck’s upcoming RDNA2-iGPU based custom APU.

OneXPlayer 1S

Display	8.4-inch 2560×1600 IPS touchscreen
CPU	Up to Ryzen 7 5700U or Core i7-1195G7
GPU	Radeon VEGA 8CU, Iris Xe G& 96EU
RAM	16GB LPDDR4X 4266Mhz
Storage	2TB NVMe SSD

OneXPlayer’s main weakness as a product is that it has constantly been introduced far more as an enthusiast item than the already-exclusive packages of other handheld PCs. Sure, it may have impressive specs. But at a price that would already cost you a complete entry-level desktop in the tumultuous tech year of 2021, it was consistently a hard sell for people who want a simple pocket machine to pass the time.

That being said, this premium spec specialty may just be what it needs to keep its relevance even as the Steam Deck arrives. The latest OnexPlayer 1S maintains its whopping 8.4-inch 2560×1600 IPS touchscreen, making it one of only two contenders sporting anything higher than 800p. So, on the one hand, you have the option to render in stunning QHD for less intensive titles. And at the other hand, you can combine its ergonomics to create a practically functional handheld office.

Aya Neo NEXT (Pro)

Display	7-inch 1280×800 IPS touchscreen
CPU	Ryzen 7 5825U
GPU	Radeon VEGA 8CU
RAM	16GB LPDDR4X 4266Mhz
Storage	2TB NVMe SSD

Unlike GPD, which leaned more on experimentation and planning when launching its first few products, the Aya Neo splashed into the already thriving handheld PC market with pure performance in mind. As a result, the first Aya Neo started with a relatively modest Ryzen 5 4500U APU, which is good enough. Still, it was more intended to balance efficiency, making cooling and prolonging battery life (to acceptable levels) more manageable on the design.

Here comes the potential problem. Its aesthetics leans hard on the simple pull-out console design. Meaning it will clash directly with the Steam Deck. The Ryzen 7 5825U is a fantastic gaming APU, an emulation machine with its Ryzen 5000 architecture. But without substantial price cuts or other upgrades such as a battery life boost, the Steam Deck will make future post-release purchases of this product seem like an instant waste.

BONUS: Aya Neo NEXT RDNA2 Version – The Mythical “Razer Deck”

Hands down, the single most significant factor to the Steam Deck’s upcoming dominance over all other previously released handheld PCs is the use of its RDNA2-based integrated graphics. While VEGA-based iGPUs have consistently proven the viability of 750 Ti-like performance in a small form factor, the next Zen 3+ processors are set to amp it up further, possibly introducing the first mobile devices with 1050 Ti-like performance.

A future version of the Aya Neo NEXT, recently confirmed through a blog post, might also sport a similar RDNA2-based APU. If the deal with AMD is approved, it would be a worthy blow-per-blow challenge to the Steam Deck. The fabled “Razer Deck,” a joint project of Qualcomm and Razer, evades the issue of hardware limitations entirely through the use of updated cloud and local hosting technologies. This, too, should prove to be a formidable contender for Valve’s “Nintendo Switch killer.”

Gadget Reviews

Review: Sandisk Extreme Portable SSD 4 TB

Post author By DMG Webmaster
Post date December 19, 2021

Although the price still needs some adjustment, SSD’s have finally pushed out the traditional hard drives out of the market. Sure, you can still find them in cheap laptops and some prebuilt PC configurations, but most, if not all mid-range devices feature at least 256 GB of pure solid state drive technology. The trouble, though, is not internal, but rather external.

Sure, there are some great options for 512 GB, 1 TB and even 2 TB external SSD drives, the Samsung T5 being one of them, but past that you’ll soon hit a wall because there just aren’t that many high capacity external SSD drives out there.

You could build your own external SSD, we wrote about it just a couple of weeks ago, but the truth is that a DIY solution can’t compete with a complete product in terms of water, dust and damage resistance, as well as craftsmanship and warranty. Luckily, Sandisk came out with their newest Extreme Portable SSD series, so if you’re an enthusiast who needs 4 TB of storage, this review will surely interest you. Let’s jump right in to it!

Sandisk Extreme Portable SSD Availability and Price

How Fast is the Sandisk Extreme Portable SSD 4 TB?

How hot does the Sandisk Extreme Portable SSD 4 TB get?

Do It Yourself

DIY: Build Your Own External SSD With These Enclosures

Post author By Glenn
Post date December 19, 2021

How Does a DIY External SSD Actually Work?

How Fast Will it Go?

Best SSD For an External Enclosure

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Option 2. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

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Best External Enclosure

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Cybersecurity

What Does My ISP See When I Use a VPN?

Post author By Dominik Bosnjak
Post date December 18, 2021

When you use a virtual private network to obfuscate your web communications, your Internet service provider is the first party that could feasibly pick up on what you’re doing. In theory. In practice, it might not even know what’s going on in the first place. More importantly, it likely isn’t in a hurry to find out.

Let’s underline that notion with some practical advice before getting into any more what-ifs: read your ISP’s privacy policy and you should have an exact answer regarding what kind of user data they’re logging and looking for, in general. Alright, maybe that’s not going to happen because nobody has that much time on their hands, but at least make your Google search queries company-specific if you want concrete answers concerning particular ISPs.

Why Your ISP Might Know Much Less Than You Fear

Yes, an ISP could probably see that you’re using a VPN, assuming it actually cared enough to look. *Actually* look to see whether the public IP address assigned to your household is behaving in a way that corresponds to your usage patterns. It’s likely not doing that, though. As that would require spending money in order to produce results that can’t be monetized en masse. Or at all, depending on how cynical you are.

Here’s the thing, though: the fact that many of us *are* cynical when it comes to our ISP’s intentions and willingness to act in good faith is precisely why we probably shouldn’t be worried about whether they’re going to any lengths to snoop on us. The U.S. is already among the most expensive countries in the world when it comes to the cost of broadband Internet access. And its irregular population density means that anyone not living in the suburbs or big cities probably receives horrible service relative to how much that service costs because regional monopolies are a thing, whether the FCC is feigning otherwise or not.

In effect, the ISPs became much more strategic about when to push consumers’ gears. Privacy is a big issue these days, sure. But because of digital advertising behemoths such as Google and Facebook, not 20th-century telecoms struggling to grapple with this new reality. If this was 2005, you could at least argue there’s no way of telling whether or not your ISP stores detailed browsing history logs of every individual user. Today, we know they don’t – they can’t, owing to the fact that SSL is everywhere.

And the main reason SSL is everywhere because Google Search started penalizing websites that don’t use HTTPS. You’d think Google would be fine with the world not using cutting-edge cryptography to secure bank transactions and searches for “funny cat videos” as equals. But Google already knew what you were doing and where your queries were directing you thanks to your reliance on Gmail, Chrome, or any other out of a dozen or so “free” and widely popular services it’s managing. The aggressive SSL adoption primarily crippled ISPs with data-harvesting ambitions – it’s not like they could afford to protest much in public.

That would be the gist of why most ISPs don’t go to great lengths to keep logs of user traffic. Plus, storing that information costs money so until they figure out how to make us pay for those logs, they’ll do their best to avoid upsetting shareholders with any unnecessary expenses. So, assuming you use any VPN, at all, your browsing history is at the very least safe from the prying eyes of your ISP.

Cybersecurity

What Is a DDoS Attack and Why Do They Still Work?

Post author By Dominik Bosnjak
Post date December 18, 2021

In a broad sense, a distributed denial of service (DDoS) is a cyber attack that leverages a botnet consisting of many different devices in order to overwhelm the target with bogus requests and consequently make it unresponsive to legitimate ones.

But as is the case with most attack vectors that are commonly encountered nowadays, the devil is in the detail. Meaning there’s an overwhelming amount of variety to DDoS attacks, whereas new techniques and phenomena are recorded on an almost daily basis.

So, while this article will cover all the bases in order to serve as a good starting point for learning about DDoS attacks, no singular source will teach you everything there is to know about the subject matter at hand. This the case with most cybersecurity topics, though. So you’d do well to try staying up to date if you have more than a passing interest in distributed-denial-of-service attacks.

Is There a Non-distributed Denial-Of-Service Attack?

Kind of, as cybersecurity researchers generally divide DoS attacks into three broad categories: advanced persistent DoS attacks, application layer DoS attacks, and distributed DoS attacks we’re examining in detail herein. Note that the only underlying logic to this division is the incidence of a given technique archetype. Otherwise, a DDoS is defined by its attacker, an ALDoS (more commonly referred to as a layer 7 DoS) by its target, and an APDoS by the attacker’s prep work.

If you dig deeper, you’ll even find mentions of protocol attacks (defined by their targets) and volume-based attacks defined by their strategy, degradation-of-service attacks defined by… ok, you get the picture. In practice, there’s a lot of overlap between all of those definitions. As with many other topics related to hacking, most DDoS knowledge doesn’t fit neatly into any given definition. Primarily because it evolves too fast for typical definitions to keep up.

Why Do DDoS Attacks Still Work After 25+ Years?

According to a late 2004 edition of The Internet Protocol Journal, the world’s first DDoS attack was carried out a quarter of a century ago, in September of ‘96. Its target was New York-based Panix, the third-oldest ISP on the planet.

As for its technique, the so-called SYN flood, it was pretty primitive relative to contemporary solutions. It essentially came down to several hundred (or perhaps just dozens of) clients sending connection requests without waiting for a response. In a pre-DSL world, that was all it took to bring down some network systems.

Yet DDoS attacks have only been gaining momentum in the meantime. Due to that persistent trend, the record for history’s largest DDoS attack is often broken several times in a given calendar year. And the overall annual volume of such hacks is currently close to doubling, according to a 2020 cybersecurity report from Neustar.

Therefore, asking why do DDoS attacks still work is hardly the central question right now. Since from a pure numbers perspective, you could argue that they are working better than ever. The key to their longevity is twofold: the issue comes down to the extremely broad definition of what constitutes a DDoS attack in the first place and the fact that you can’t really make a typical network completely invulnerable to such shenanigans.

Another important factor contributing to the persistence of DDoS attacks is their accessibility. Because launching a primitive SYN flood or something of the sort can be as easy as downloading a few scripts. Provided you know what you’re looking for, that is. The general availability of exploits revolving around low-level DDoS vectors is arguably the sole reason why the term “script kiddie” even exists.

One final thing illustrating how easily achievable DDoS attacks are is the fact that they can even be accidental. If a piece from some obscure website suddenly goes viral on social media or a content aggregator such as Reddit, there’s always the possibility of its servers getting a so-called “hug of death”.

They can consequently begin denying service requests because they’re overwhelmed with legitimate traffic. Even an unsuccessful DDoS attack, intentional or not, has the potential to significantly slow down a given website or online app.

There’s No Such Thing as DDoS Prevention – Only Mitigation

Since it’s not economically feasible to make any given server completely invulnerable to DDoS attacks, guarding against them comes down to mitigation techniques focused on risk management. Most of those are focused on identifying suspect traffic patterns, i.e. requests not made by humans.

In other words, you have DDoS attacks to thank for those annoying CAPTCHAs existing. And while manual DDoS defense mechanisms were also a thing in the past, botnets and other bogus traffic sources have gotten so sophisticated that contemporary DDoS mitigation solutions are pretty much exclusively cloud-based and automated.

Does a VPN Prevent DDoS Attacks?

Yes, a virtual private network can protect you against most types of DDoS attacks. In fact, that’s the main reason we’re digging deeper into this subject matter in the first place. At this point, you should at least have a vague idea of what DDoS attacks are and how they happen. Now, if we add a VPN to the equation… well, everything falls apart from an attacker’s perspective.

Without the ability to resolve your true IP address, the attacker is unable to target your smartphone, tablet, PC, or whatever it is you’re using to access the Internet. Meaning your actual machine cannot be added to their botnet.

Worst-case scenario, your VPN server or proxy will fall prey to the attacker’s methods, which usually won’t affect you beyond making your connection unresponsive for a couple of seconds. Until the intermediary obfuscating your IP address automatically reconnects you to an unaffected server node, that is.

If you really want to get technical, the actual worst-case scenario is that you have to do that manually. If you don’t, companies will usually advertise that feature as “DDoS protection” or something of the sort.

Even the very possibility of your VPN falling victim to a DDoS attack is a stretch because most service providers nowadays will usually have much more robust anti-DDoS protections in place than the average netizen. Being targeted by DDoS attacks is a much more realistic threat to modern VPNs than having their infrastructure absorbed into a botnet meant to power DDoS attacks.

Now, there is one notable exception to this – if a hacker already knows your real IP address because they obtained it before you established a secure Internet connection. Not even a triple VPN will help you in that case. And your only bet is to get a new IP address – not from your VPN provider, but your ISP. Most support dynamic IPs these days, so that shouldn’t be a problem.

Regardless, if you suspect you’re a target of a DDoS attack, with or without a VPN, consult with applicable local regulations. Because such cyber attacks at the very least constitute harassment in most parts of the world and are hence illegal.

Cybersecurity

Best VPN for Your Home Office

Post author By Dominik Bosnjak
Post date December 18, 2021

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How Did We Pick the Best VPN for Home Office?

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