DDoS attacks: what are they and how to protect your online business?

DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks are one of the most common and damaging risks facing companies in today’s digital environment.

These attacks, which can completely destabilize a website or online service, are used by cybercriminals to cause disruption or damage to a company’s technology infrastructure.

In this blog, we are going to explain what DDoS attacks are, how they are executed and what measures you can take to protect your online business.

What is a DDoS attack?

A DDoS attack consists of an overload of traffic sent to a server or network with the aim of making a system inaccessible.

To accomplish this, attackers use a network of compromised computers (known as a botnet) to send large volumes of traffic to a website or network.

These botnets consist of infected devices, such as computers, security cameras or routers, which the attacker controls remotely without their owners’ knowledge.

The main objective of a DDoS attack is not to steal information or cause permanent damage to systems, but to disrupt the target company’ s service, taking it offline and causing economic and reputational losses.

How do DDoS attacks work?

DDoS attacks can take several forms, depending on the type of traffic being sent to the target.

The most common are:

1. Volume attacks: Sending large amounts of data to the target server, saturating the bandwidth and making the website inaccessible, these attacks are usually easy to carry out, but require large volumes of traffic to be effective.

2. Protocol attacks: This type of attack focuses on exhausting server resources by exploiting weaknesses in communication protocols, for example, a SYN flood attack interrupts the connection establishment process between the server and the client, consuming server resources.

3. Application-level attacks: These are more complex and seek to disrupt the operation of a specific application (such as an online shopping portal), although they do not require large amounts of traffic, they are more difficult to detect because they simulate legitimate user behavior.

Consequences of a DDoS attack for your business

A DDoS attack can have serious consequences for your company:

• Service interruption: During an attack, your customers will not be able to access your website, which can result in lost sales and damage your reputation.
• Additional costs: Depending on the duration of the attack, companies may incur significant costs related to attack mitigation and service restoration.
• Loss of data and credibility: While DDoS attacks do not usually steal data, service interruption can cause customers to lose confidence in the reliability of your business.

How to protect your business from DDoS attacks?

The good news is that there are several strategies you can implement to protect your business from DDoS attacks.

Here are some of the most effective measures:

Use a content delivery network (CDN).

A CDN helps distribute your website traffic across a network of servers in different geographic locations, this not only improves your site’s performance by reducing latency, but also makes it more resistant to DDoS attacks, as attacks are distributed across multiple servers instead of targeting a single point of vulnerability.

2. Deploy a DDoS protection service.

There are several specialized DDoS protection providers that can detect and mitigate attacks in real time, these services use techniques such as traffic filtering and anomalous pattern detection to identify malicious traffic before it reaches your servers, some examples are Cloudflare, Akamai or AWS Shield.

3. Configure a robust firewall

A web application firewall (WAF) can block unwanted traffic requests before they reach your server, and configuring a network firewall to filter suspicious traffic and block malicious IP addresses can also be useful in mitigating the effects of a DDoS attack.

4. Monitor your network traffic

Constant monitoring of your network traffic can help you identify unusual patterns that could indicate a DDoS attack in progress, using traffic analysis tools, such as Wireshark or SolarWinds, can allow you to detect an attack in its early stages and take action quickly.

5. Expand your network infrastructure

While not an immediate solution, expanding the capacity of your network infrastructure, such as bandwidth and server resources, can help make your system more resilient to DDoS attacks, increasing the capacity of your network can allow your business to absorb spikes in traffic without crashing.

6. Have an incident response plan

It is critical to have an incident response plan that addresses what to do in the event of a DDoS attack, this includes quickly identifying the attack, activating protective measures, communicating with cybersecurity service providers and notifying customers if necessary.

DDoS attacks are a real threat to any online business, but with the right measures, you can protect yourself and minimize the risks.

Implementing strategies such as the use of CDNs, advanced firewalls and DDoS protection services are key steps to defend your company from these attacks.

Remember that cybersecurity is an ongoing effort, so you must always be vigilant and prepared to face new threats.

We are here to help you protect your business online.

Image source: DDoS Attacks | Freepik