What is HOIC?

Introduction

High Orbit Ion Cannon (HOIC), is a newer and more adversary-friendly version of Low Orbit Ion Cannon (LOIC). Both  are open-source tools that can be put to legitimate use to stress-test networks. However, the fact that they were named after an ion cannon, a fictional weapon that appears in sci-fi video games, hints at their more nefarious application.

HOIC has been used in some of the most notorious DDoS attacks launched by the hacktivist group, Anonymous.

In this blog, we’ll dig into how HOIC works, how these HOIC DDoS attacks unfold, and the impact this type of DDoS attack can have on organizations. We’ll also offer guidance on mitigation and defense strategies as well as advanced approaches and innovative technologies that bring significant firepower to the fight against DDoS threats.

Understanding High Orbit Ion Cannon (HOIC) 

HOIC is an open-source tool designed to perform volumetric application-layer DDoS attacks.

Inspired by LOIC, an earlier iteration of the technology, HOIC incorporates sophisticated capabilities that allow threat actors to launch disruptive DDoS attacks with fewer resources and better obfuscation. These capabilities include:

• A graphical user interface
• Booster scripts to easily customize attacks and scatter traffic across multiple targets concurrently
• Automation to generate high volumes of web requests
• Encryption and source IP address obfuscation to hamper investigation and attribution
• Continuous signature updates to evade block lists
• Web lists to simplify and anonymize volunteer coordination and orchestration of attacks

History and Origins of HOIC

LOIC was initially designed as a legitimate tool for teams to stress-test their online infrastructure. Threat actors quickly co-opted it to launch a variety of DDoS attacks. LOIC can be used to send large volumes of HTTP, TCP or UDP packets to execute HTTP flood, ACK flood, SYN flood, and UDP flood attacks.

While LOIC provides flexibility in the types of packets it can send, it also has limitations when used for nefarious purposes: there is no way to obfuscate source IP addresses, and it requires thousands of users to launch a coordinated attack.

So, HOIC was developed in 2010 to replace LOIC. And while you may not be familiar with HOIC, it’s likely you are very familiar with some of the attacks it was used in.

HOIC was the tool the hacktivist group, Anonymous, used to launch a series of politically motivated attacks against organizations including the FBI, PayPal, MasterCard, Sony and other members of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) along with several major record companies. HOIC’s advanced obfuscation and automation capabilities allowed Anonymous to stay true to its name and made it more difficult to track down individuals responsible while enabling them to causing costly disruptions to online services of major corporations with as few as 50 volunteers.

Using HOIC for DDoS Attacks

The HOIC tool is designed to be used only for HTTP floods and can target as many as 256 URLS at the same time to overwhelm a target.

Its user-friendly design is one of the capabilities that makes it so effective. Users don’t need technical expertise to execute powerful attacks aimed at the application layer (Layer 7) of the OSI model and bring down websites and web applications.

• Using an intuitive dashboard, the threat actor enters the target URLs and the volume of requests, and hits send.
• They can automate processes without any coding.
• Web-based lists make it easy to keep track of targets and attack details and share updates with volunteers.

How HOIC Works

HOIC is used to flood the targeted website with repeated requests at a high rate. The intent is to consume bandwidth and resources to slow performance, limit connections, and ultimately bring down servers.

HOIC can be used in different ways to disrupt organizations.

• HTTP flood: In an HTTP flooding attack HOIC can be used to send a large number of legitimate-looking HTTP requests to overwhelm a server or web application. This category of attack can include both HTTP GET and POST floods. An HTTP GET flood overloads the server with requests to retrieve data, while an HTTP POST flood inundates the server with data to process. Both types aim to exhaust server resources, causing slowdowns or outages.
• CC attack: In a CC attack, the attacker uses a proxy server to simulate a scenario where multiple users are accessing multiple pages at the same time to maximize resource consumption. HOIC can be used to amplify the impact of using open proxy servers to relay attacks. Attackers can maintain anonymity and double-down on the number of IPs being used against the target.
• SSL attack: Web application firewalls (WAF) are one tool that defenders may use for DDoS attack mitigation. However, in the case of HOIC attacks WAFs run into trouble. HOIC is capable of generating high volumes of requests that are encrypted using common encryption protocols like SSL/TLS. The encrypted requests can bypass a WAF and lead to denial-of-service.

The Impact of HOIC Attacks

There are multiple ways that HOIC attacks can impact organizations.

• Service disruption. The primary aim of a HOIC attack is to disrupt targeted networks or website services and make them unresponsive to legitimate user requests.
• Lost revenue: The longer the length of downtime, the longer services aren’t available to the business and its customers, which results in loss of revenue to the organization.
• Customer churn: When users don’t have reliable access to the services they need, they can lose confidence in the service which can result in an increase in customer churn.
• Reputational damage: Hacktivist activity often generates media attention which can lead to negative publicity and further harm an organization’s reputation.
• Recovery costs: In addition to the costs of bringing services back online, recovery costs can also include forensic analysis and upgrades to defenses. Depending on the impact on customers there may also be costs associated with regaining trust and loyalty.

Mitigation and Defense Strategies

A sudden increase in traffic to a server, service or network along with a slowdown or disruption of normal operations could be signs of a HOIC attack. The following best practices and tools help security teams mitigate and prevent HOIC attacks:

Network architecture and redundancy
Use load balancers and failover mechanisms that distribute traffic across different servers and cloud resources to help mitigate the impact of an attack and assist with continuity of service while IT teams investigate and respond. Additionally, leverage Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) to distribute your website’s content across multiple servers and locations. CDNs can absorb and distribute traffic, minimizing the impact of DDoS attacks on a single server.

Rate-based limiting and filtering rules
Implement rate limiting to restrict the number of HTTP requests pers source to counter application floods. Reduce the impact of an attack by using reputation filtering to set up rules in firewalls and intrusion detection and prevention systems to detect and block packets from IP addresses that exceed normal rates.

Advanced Threat Detection

The most comprehensive way to defend against HOIC attacks is with a proven DDoS protection solution that mitigates the gamut of DDoS attacks and ensures you stay ahead of emerging threats. Advanced solutions will allow you to maintain uninterrupted service availability even in the midst of a DDoS attack.

Innovative Mitigation Technologies

The volume of data generated for analysis by DDoS attacks is staggering, particularly for HOIC attacks. Quickly finding the signal in the noise is precisely where AI shines. AI algorithms combined with large language models (LLMs), are uniquely adept at processing vast amounts of data and connecting the dots as attacks evolve, for example when HOIC attacks update signatures to evade block lists.

Advanced DDoS protection should include AI-assisted threat intelligence to continually learn from new data and adapt in real time to counter evolving methods and keep defenses sharp. An automated, AI-assisted service can deliver preemptive, predictive attack mitigation, before the first attack is even seen. These solutions can also react instantly to protect against follow-on malicious activity including data leakage, ransomware attacks, and other threats to operations.

Conclusion

HOIC has been used by the hacktivist group, Anonymous, to launch some of the most notorious HTTP flood attacks in history. Inspired by LOIC, an earlier iteration of the technology designed as a legitimate tool for teams to stress-test their online infrastructure, HOIC incorporates sophisticated capabilities that allow threat actors to launch disruptive DDoS attacks with fewer resources and better obfuscation. Overwhelming targets with repeated HTTP requests at a high rate, HOIC makes it relatively easy to cause widespread disruption to websites and web applications because little technical expertise is required.

The tell-tale signs of a HOIC attack are a sudden increase in traffic to a server, service or network along with a slowdown or disruption of normal operations. The impact is typically severe, including service disruption, lost revenue, reputational damage, customer churn, and recovery costs.

There are several best practices and technologies to mitigate HOIC attacks, including load balancing and redundancy, rate limiting and filtering rules, and the use of firewalls and IDS/IPS solutions.

However, the most effective way to protect against a gamut of DDoS attacks, including HOIC attacks, is by implementing a DDoS protection solution with a proven track record. Advanced DDoS protection should include:

• AI-assisted threat intelligence to continually learn from new data and adapt in real time to counter evolving methods and keep defenses sharp.
• Rapid, automated response to ensure uninterrupted service availability even in the midst of a DDoS attack.
• Preemptive, predictive attack mitigation to defend against follow-on attacks that can harm your business.

Visit our threat intelligence research center for more information on DDoS defense in depth.