The web server quickly reaches its maximum application stack capacity and becomes unavailable for new connections by legitimate users. Slowloris continues to send subsequent headers at regular intervals to occupy the application stack and keep the connections from closing. Slowloris is another popular Low & Slow attack tool that holds HTTP connections open by sending partial HTTP requests. The result is that application threads become stuck because they are occupied with these one-byte POST fragments. This is done by iteratively injecting one byte into a web application post field followed by a sleep period. For example, a popular Low & Slow attack tool is R.U.D.Y (R U Dead Yet?), which can bring down a web server by creating long form field submissions. The traffic, however, is designed to exhaust the victim’s resources until its services halt and become unavailable. By not violating any network standard or security policy they pass undetected, flying below the radar of traditional mitigation strategies. Low & Slow attacks use slow traffic that appears legitimate in terms of the protocol rules and rates. The following post goes in-depth to break down why Low & Slow application level attacks are difficult to detect and mitigate. What’s more? Detecting and preventing these attacks presents a significant challenge. Similar to guerilla warfare tactics, Low & Slow application attacks create significant damage with minimal resources. Low & Slow DDoS application attacks prove otherwise. The naïve and still common perception of DoS/DDoS attacks is that to be destructive, attacks must use brute force and generate massive traffic.