What is "sockstress"

Sockstress is a method that is used to attack servers on the Internet and other networks utilizing TCP, including Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD and any router or other internet appliance that accepts TCP connections. The method does this by attempting to use up local resources in order to crash a service or the entire machine, essentially a denial of service attack.

Sockstress was developed as internal proof-of-concept by the late Jack C. Louis at Outpost24. Louis discovered anomalies using Unicornscan to test and probe networks for corporate security, which led to the development of Sockstress. The concept was first demonstrated in September 2008. The researchers had planned on releasing more details at the T2 conference in Finland where they demonstrated the attacks. They instead chose to continue to work closely with, and give more time to, the vendor and standards communities. In a blog entry they said "We are not putting them [the vendors] under undue pressure to get poorly implemented rushed fixes out."