Distributed denial of service or DDOS attacks are malicious attacks against business servers that can render an entire IT network unable to function, preventing companies from doing business.
These attacks, which involve little more than flooding servers with so much traffic that they crash, do not extract data or otherwise harm the network, but they do make it impossible for businesses to retain use of their websites.
DDOS attack protection has become more important over the past few years as the number of these attacks has increased four-fold in just the past year.
How to Avoid Such Threats
To avoid these threats, DDOS attack protection consultants make the following recommendations for creating an effective plan for preventing a damaging distributed denial of service attack:
- Start with a multi-layered DDOS attack protection system through firewalls that protect all layers of the network’s OSI model.
- Develop a distributed denial of service attack response plan that addresses mapping out the effect the attack will take on the network, analyzing for signs of an attack, mitigating the effect of the attack, and then documenting it to use that information to revise and improve the plan.
- Perform a network assessment to detect vulnerabilities that could allow a DDOS attack.
- Continuously monitor network traffic and packets with a firewall, as an increased activity there is the first sign that a DDOS attack is taking place.
- Activate DDOS attack protection that reduces the number of vulnerabilities that can be exploited.
- Set up a web application firewall to monitor HTTP traffic to help prevent malicious traffic from entering the network.
- Know the warning signs of an attack and configure appropriate alerts to warn of one starting.
- Build a redundant server that can take the place of the main one should an attack occur.
- Limit network broadcasting so that anything that exceeds it gets dropped.
- Consider scaling up bandwidth to reduce the likelihood that a DDOS attack will crash the network; DDOS attack protection consultants do warn that this could backfire and just cost the business more money to ultimately still end up with a network crash if other DDOS attack protection methods are not used simultaneously.
- Invest in Anti-DDOS software and hardware, and/or choose cloud-based service providers, as they are the ones responsible for preventing these attacks.
Distributed denial of service attacks are challenging to detect and prevent without the right DDOS attack protection plan.
Businesses that depend on their websites for doing business and might be vulnerable to DDOS attacks can minimize their risk by working with DDOS attack protection consultants that specialize in creating effective, protective Anti-DDOS plans.