An intentional attempt to flood your server or website with too much traffic is known as a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. It makes your website unresponsive or sluggish for authorised users.

A successful DDoS assault has the potential to damage consumer confidence and cause expensive outages. None of it sounds good, especially for SMEs.

Therefore, understanding what a DDoS attack is and how to defend against it is extremely important for keeping your website secure.

Keep reading to understand

What Is a DDoS Attack?

For a better understanding, let’s break the term Distributed Denial of Service into its two main components.

  1. Distributed: A DDoS attack uses multiple sources, often compromised devices, to flood a website or server with traffic. These devices are typically part of a botnet, a network of infected computers, or IoT devices controlled by attackers.
  2. Denial of Service: Attackers make websites unresponsive by exploiting their vulnerabilities. This disrupts businesses and user experiences since genuine users can no longer access the attacked website or server.

Types of DDoS Attacks

Volumetric Attacks Overburden the bandwidth of the target with massive amounts of traffic. UDP Flood
Application Layer Attacks Target specific functionalities of a website, such as forms or search bars. HTTP Flood
Protocol Attacks Exploit weaknesses in network protocols, consuming server resources. SYN Flood

The Alarming Rise of DDoS Attacks

The frequency and scale of DDoS attacks have surged dramatically in recent years. Between 2013 and 2022, there was an 807% increase in incidents. Quarterly attacks jumped from approximately 325,000 in Q1 2013 to nearly 2.9 million in Q1 2022.

Here are a few more highlighting the growing threat of DDoS attacks to online infrastructure.

Source

How Do DDoS Attacks Work?

DDoS attacks are highly orchestrated cyber threats that involve multiple stages, as follows:

Step 1: Building a Botnet

Malware infects PCs, Internet of Things devices, or servers through phishing emails, malicious downloads, or software flaws. Once compromised, these devices become ” bots ” following the attacker’s instructions.

The scale of botnets can be massive; some consist of thousands or even millions of devices, all ready to launch a coordinated assault on a chosen target.

Step 2: Flooding the Server

With the botnet in place, attackers direct these devices to send a ton of traffic to the target website or server. This can happen in several ways, depending on the attack method:

  • SYN Flood: Exploits the handshake process of TCP connections by sending a barrage of SYN requests. The server saturates and can no longer process legitimate connections.
  • UDP Flood: Bombards the server with large amounts of User Datagram Protocol packets. Thus consuming bandwidth and exhausting resources.
  • HTTP Flood: Mimics legitimate requests to exhaust server resources and bypass basic security measures.

These methods are designed to overload the target’s network, exhausting its bandwidth, memory, or processing power.

Step 3: Overwhelming the Target

There are serious repercussions when a DDoS attack overburdens a server or website. It interrupts operations, which irritates users and puts a stop to commercial activity.

While frequent or protracted attacks can erode customer trust and ruin a company’s reputation, outages during crucial times can cause significant financial losses for eCommerce enterprises.

Is My Website Under a DDoS Attack? Telltale Signs to Watch For

If you notice any of the following signs, it’s an indication of a DDoS attack:

  • Sudden website sluggishness or total downtime could be more than just heavy traffic.
  • Unusual traffic spikes like a sudden flood of visitors from unexpected locations or bizarre patterns in traffic behavior might indicate something’s off.
  • If your hosting provider or monitoring tools flag unusual activity, take it seriously—they might catch what you can’t.

How to Shield Your Website from DDoS Attacks?

One in five businesses will likely experience a DDoS attack, with recovery expenses of up to $417,000. The financial and operational toll DDoS assaults can have on a company is starkly illustrated by this scenario, described in the most recent Corporate IT Security Risks Survey from Kaspersky Lab.

It’s imperative to take preventative measures to safeguard your website against such attacks in light of these concerning data:

1. Invest in a Web Application Firewall

A Web Application Firewall is a barrier between your server and incoming traffic. It filters out malicious requests before they reach your website. WAFs can block DDoS traffic, malicious bots, and other unwanted threats. Blocking harmful traffic ensures that legitimate users can still access your site.

2. Enable DDoS Mitigation Tools

Rate-limiting processes control the volume of requests a user can send within a set timeframe. Thus preventing your server from being flooded.

Pro Tip: Understand the traffic limits for different pages on your site. For example, 100 requests per minute on a login page could overwhelm the server, while a product page might handle 300 requests. Setting rate limits based on these thresholds helps with site protection without blocking legitimate users.

3. Utilise Content Delivery Networks

Content Delivery Network distributes the web traffic among several servers. It keeps any one server from being overloaded, lessening the effect of DDoS attacks. A CDN makes sure that genuine traffic is efficiently delivered by caching content at multiple locations, while malicious traffic can be blocked out before it reaches your server.

Also Read – The Ultimate Guide To Understanding What A CDN Is And How It Can Boost Your Website Performance

4. Regularly Monitor Your Website

Early detection requires constant attention to detail. To keep an eye out for odd trends or surges in traffic that can indicate an impending DDoS attack, use traffic analysis tools. Rapid reaction times can reduce downtime and damage.

Also Read – Defending Against DDoS Attack: Strategies to Fortify Your Website’s Resilience

Wrapping Up

DDoS attacks can cripple your website, but with the right precautions, you can stay one step ahead. You can shield your site from disruptions by using firewalls, CDNs, and DDoS protection services. Stay vigilant, monitor traffic, and have a response plan to ensure your site remains secure.

You must secure your site with a Web Application Firewall and choose a reliable web hosting partner like Crazy Domains. Protect your website from hackers and online threats with Site Protection and Site Scanner. Need more details? Feel free to get in touch with us.