1 Help! I am under a DDoS attack! What is a DDoS attack (in layman’s terms)?
A DDoS attack is a Distributed Denial Of Service. A group of bot slaves is making requests of your website that are too great for it to handle. What this means for you is that your website becomes non-functional. What are bot slaves? Computers, sick with a virus forcing them to attack your website. Imagine your website is a physical location – the DDoS attack would be droves of mannequins filling your store, pushing your real customers out the door and preventing real customers from entering. These mannequins could potentially be in your store for days, effectively forcing your store to remain closed the entire time.
2 I understand what a DDoS attack is, what do I do now?
Prevention is the best way to defend against a DDoS attack, because if you wait until you are under attack, it will be too late. While the vast majority of DDoS attacks last less than 9 hours, can your business afford to be down for so long? What will your customers think? Will they trust you when the attack is over? Do they understand DDoS enough to forgive you, or will they think their information is compromised? Will they come back tomorrow when the attack is over?
3 I agree, prevention is crucial, but why are they DDoS’ing me?
The answer is plain and simple – money is their goal. A group may DDoS your site and demand that you pay them, only then releasing your site from the attack. Or, they may threaten to DDoS your site and demand payment to prevent the attack. Interestingly, according to the 2 nd Quarter 2017 DDoS report by Kaspersky Labs, fraudsters without DDoS capabilities sent out ransom threats to companies and were paid. This is yet another reason that you should invest in DDoS protection.
4 Tell me about DDoS prevention.
While there are many steps you can take to strengthen your defenses against a DDoS attack, from server location/configuration to hardware purchases/configuration, the simplest method is outsourcing your defense to a company that specializes in DDoS prevention. It is best to keep in mind that prevention costs will be far less than the ultimate cost, should your site come under attack.
5 But, my site is small – I am not under threat of a DDoS attack!
Unfortunately, this just isn’t the case anymore. DDoS attacks against smaller sites have increased in recent years, and smaller sites are especially vulnerable to the negative impact such attacks have on their reputation and customer base. Wrapping up.
Remember, the best thing you can do to defend against DDoS (Distributed Denial Of Service) attacks is to prevent them in the first place. Once the attack strikes it will be too late. DDoS attacks are financially motivated and even small sites are under attack, so talk to your service provider about protecting your site today.
