What can you do?
Besides protecting your own systems from DDoS Zombie attacks and the methods described above, you should encourage anyone who uses broadband Internet to install a basic firewall. ZDNet's Downloads site has a list of personal firewalls that are simple to manage and provide basic protection.
Zone Labs' ZoneAlarm is just what the doctor ordered for a technically savvy user who wants to know exactly what's happening on his network connection. Using ZoneAlarm on a friend's PC with a DSL connection we found not one, but two, DDoS agents attempting to launch attacks. We also noticed that there were daily attempts to hack into his system. If you have a broadband connection, security isn't just a good idea, it's a necessity.
Will any defense be enough? Only time and experience will tell, but if you're not protecting yourself against DDoS attacks today, you're not only in danger of losing your network connection, you may be part of the problem.
