A Distributed denial-of-service DDoS attacks has the power to devastate the very core of your website. It can result in a catastrophic crash, rendering your website inaccessible and falling short of users’ expectations.
Hence, it is imperative that you take proactive measures to safeguard your website against such potential attacks.
In a DDoS attack, an immense surge of malicious traffic is aimed at a specific website. The objective behind this onslaught is to overwhelm the web servers, rendering them incapable of handling the influx of traffic. The consequence of such an attack can be catastrophic, causing the website to collapse and go offline, and in some cases, even compromising its content. This disruption significantly impairs its ability to cater to legitimate user requests.
Statistics
DDoS attacks happen frequently so much so that Globally, the number of DDoS attacks increased by 150% in 2022 compared to 2021. Even more quickly than in 2021, attacks increased by 212% in the Americas. Organizations in EMEA were the target of more than half of the attacks. 35% of the attacks occurred in the Americas, while 7% of them were directed towards APAC-based firms.
There was a noticeable and alarming increase in the frequency of DDoS attacks. In comparison to 8.4 attacks per day at the end of 2021, businesses neutralized an average of 29.3 attacks per day during the fourth quarter of 2022, a 3.5-fold increase.
What Is a DDoS Attack?
A DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack occurs when a website is flooded with fake traffic to overload its servers, causing a crash. This happens because the increased traffic uses up all available bandwidth or overwhelms the servers.
There are two main types of DDoS attacks to know about:
- Volumetric Attacks: These target the entire website to shut it down, flooding it with traffic.
- Application-Layer Attacks: These focus on specific parts of a website or its hosted applications.
Another type, called Distributed Reflective Denial-of-Service Attacks, directs traffic to specific areas of a website or hosted applications.
Protocol Attacks aim at network infrastructure components like firewalls and load balancers by exploiting vulnerabilities in their communication protocols.
Both kinds of attacks aim to overwhelm a website’s bandwidth and servers, either leading to a complete shutdown or disabling specific functions.
Attackers often use botnets, a network of compromised computers, to launch these attacks. Some may also use a single computer for a DoS (Denial of Service) attack.
5 Practical Strategies to Mitigate DDoS Attacks in 2023
Discover effective methods to safeguard your website or web applications from a variety of DDoS attacks, ensuring uninterrupted online presence.
- Expand Your Bandwidth
One of the fundamental steps to fortify your defenses against DDoS attacks is to render your hosting infrastructure “DDoS-resistant.” This involves ensuring that your bandwidth can manage surges in traffic resulting from cyberattacks. Nevertheless, it’s crucial to understand that merely increasing bandwidth isn’t a complete DDoS mitigation solution.
While upgrading bandwidth raises the threshold attackers must surpass to execute a successful DDoS attack, it’s essential to combine this with additional mitigation techniques for comprehensive protection.
- Harness the Power of CDN Solutions, or Better Yet, Multi-CDN
CDN (Content Delivery Network) providers offer a plethora of cybersecurity tools and features to shield your website from malicious actors. They also provide free SSL certificates. By enlisting your website with these service providers, you automatically gain DDoS protection as part of safeguarding your server network and applications. The rationale behind this lies in the fact that CDN networks automatically filter out any malicious requests targeting L3/L4, which aren’t accessed through ports 80 and 443. Utilizing a CDN effectively distributes website traffic, preventing overwhelming your constrained server.
Furthermore, CDNs disperse your traffic across servers in various locations, making it arduous for hackers to pinpoint your original server for launching an attack. A Multi-CDN solution amplifies your protection by utilizing a vast network of PoPs from multiple CDN providers, establishing an even larger globally distributed network capable of withstanding multi-terabit-per-second DDoS attacks.
- Prepare for DDoS Attacks in Advance
Preemptively planning for cyberattacks enables you to respond promptly before they inflict damage upon your website. A thorough cybersecurity plan should delineate a list of team members responsible for handling the attack and outline how the system will allocate resources to maintain the availability of critical applications and services, preventing your business from crashing. Additionally, you can establish a protocol for communicating with the Internet Service Provider that’s aiding in addressing the attack, as they may possess the means to thwart it entirely.
- Remember: No Business Is “Too Small” for DDoS Attacks
Small business owners often believe their scale is insufficient to attract the attention of cybercriminals. However, the truth is that small businesses and startups are frequent targets of cyberattacks. This is primarily because larger enterprises are more likely to have security measures in place to fend off hacker attempts. As mentioned earlier, small businesses can incur significant damages, with DDoS attacks costing up to $120,000. Therefore, strengthening your website’s security is imperative.
- Transition to Hybrid or Cloud-Based Solutions
Shifting to hybrid or cloud-based services provides the advantage of unlimited bandwidth. Many DDoS-affected websites operate with limited resources. Migrating to a cloud-based solution can bolster your defenses.
Conclusion
DDoS assaults continue to pose a significant threat to websites and online businesses in 2023. However, with the right strategies and security measures in place, you can effectively mitigate these attacks and maintain the availability and performance of your website. Implementing a Content Delivery Network (CDN), Web Application Firewall (WAF), rate limiting, scrubbing services, and Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems (IDPS) are vital steps toward safeguarding your online assets.
To ensure your website’s resilience against DDoS attacks, it’s essential to stay informed about the evolving threat landscape, regularly update your security measures, and monitor your traffic for anomalies. By following these strategies and remaining vigilant, you can significantly reduce the risk of falling victim to DDoS assaults and protect your online presence in 2023 and beyond.
FAQ on DDoS Assaults
1. How do DDoS attackers choose their targets?
DDoS attackers often choose their targets based on factors like website popularity, business impact, and vulnerabilities. Websites with weak security measures and high visibility are more likely to be targeted.
2. Can small websites be targeted by DDoS attacks?
Yes, even small websites can be targeted by DDoS attacks. Attackers may choose smaller targets to test their attack capabilities or simply as an act of vandalism. Implementing preventive measures is essential for websites of all sizes.
3. Are there free or open-source solutions for preventing DDoS attacks?
Yes, there are free and open-source DDoS prevention solutions available. Some WAFs and rate-limiting tools can be obtained at no cost. However, for comprehensive protection and support, many organizations opt for paid solutions.
