Classification of DDoS attack tools and its handling techniques and strategy at application layer

Computer networks basically consist of seven layers in all at different levels. The seventh layer i.e. application layer is responsible to fulfill the user's requests. Distributed Denial of Service Attack (DDoS) is a condition in which upper three layers of any computer network generally stop their jobs to fulfill the request of clients. DDoS attacks at seventh layer have become highly complex to solve. Various companies hire attack developers or purchase attacking tools to pull down the business of their competitors. DDoS attack's developers are continuously adding new features in this weapon which makes application detector unable to identify. This paper deals with the classification of DDoS threats based on abnormal behavior at application layer and provides summarized information about various DDoS Tools. Moreover, it categorizes DDoS attack handling techniques based on monitoring, preventing, detecting, and mitigating concepts. Hence this paper aims to handle the DDoS attack issues at application layer and therefore providing information about loopholes of handling techniques, and hence better understanding for future advancements in this area.