What Are DDoS Attacks and How to Protect Your Business from Them

Is your website offline, your applications unavailable, and your clients unable to use your web services? Very often, the cause of this can be a DDoS attack aimed at harming your online business. In this article, we explain what these attacks are, how you can protect yourself from them, and which businesses are most affected. 

What is a DDoS attack?

DDoS or (Distributed Denial-of-Service) is a type of hacker attack that sends excessive traffic, artificially overloading a particular network or server, disrupting their normal operation. Such attacks are often used to temporarily interrupt access to websites and applications, which can last up to several days. 

The sources of such attacks are usually thousands or millions of computers or internet devices that allow remote use to launch the attack. Together, they make a huge number of simultaneous requests to the IP address of the “victim,” overloading the network and hindering the normal traffic from real users. 

Curiously: The first DDoS attack was carried out by a 15-year-old boy in the year 2000, targeting large sites such as CNN, eBay, and Yahoo. Since then, this type of attack has been gaining popularity for causing harm to various websites, portals, and systems. 

Who Would Be Interested in Carrying Out a DDoS Attack?

Did you know that almost any Internet user can carry out basic DDoS attacks? Unfortunately, DDoS attacks are even offered as a service that you can pay for and direct against a specific target. While the first author of such an attack was simply demonstrating his abilities, there are a number of other users with real incentives to attack your business. Among them could be:

• Competing businesses that would benefit from your temporary absence in the market
• Anyone who wants to harm your reputation 
• Hackers who want to demonstrate their capabilities by causing harm to large organizations (public or private)

Most Frequent DDoS Victims Are…

According to Microsoft, certain categories of organizations are most frequently targeted by online DDoS attacks, including: 

• Financial institutions
• Telecommunications companies
• Retailers
• Businesses offering entertainment and leisure
• Insurance companies

Given their areas of operation, it’s logical that such companies are most often of interest to hackers, and the motives behind the attacks are often financially driven or aimed at damaging the reputation of the victim businesses or organizations. 

Over the past year, nearly ⅔ of DDoS attacks have been directed at organizations in the USA, India, and China, with their sources most frequently originating from Asian countries. 

Consequences Include…

Just one DDoS attack can harm multiple processes in an organization. According to data, worldwide malicious actions of this type cause damages of up to $52,000 for small and medium-sized enterprises and almost $450,000 for large organizations. 

Alongside financial consequences, organizations often report slowdowns in their systems and networks, numerous failed transactions, and the unavailability of various services. In some cases, after suffering a DDoS attack, organizations are forced to replace their hardware and update their software. And when you add the risks of lost revenue, damaged reputation, and loss of customer personal data or financial resources, DDoS attacks become one of the most serious challenges for any business operating online. 

How to Identify and Protect Yourself from DDoS Attacks

You’ve probably already identified your business as a potential target for a DDoS attack, and it’s always best to treat it as such. Stay alert for any of the following signs that may indicate a DDoS attack on your website, online store, or application:

• unexpected and unexplained spikes in traffic to your site, during specific days, timeframes or from a particular location
• suspicious traffic from a single IP address
• unusually high traffic from users with the same profile - location, device used, website behavior
• unusually high traffic to a specific page on your site

One of the hardest tasks for many businesses is to distinguish and filter legitimate site traffic from malicious traffic caused by DDoS attacks. Keep in mind, many attempts to counter an active DDoS attack can also limit quality traffic to your site, while the attack itself could adapt and circumvent your protections. This is why in most cases you will need professional support.

How AbsCloud Protects Our Clients’ Businesses

We always treat our clients’ websites, online stores, and systems as potential targets for DDoS attacks, and that’s why we implement proactive solutions for dealing with them. Some of our solutions for online business security that AbsCloud clients rely on include: 

• DDoS, Firewall, and Anti-virus protection that safeguards our clients' businesses against malicious actions and hacker attacks. 
• Continuous server monitoring and client notification in case of unusual server load. Our systems and proactive intervention prevent server overload and the exhaustion of resources you rely on. This way, we can guarantee 99.9% uptime for your online project, even with financial compensation. 
• Latest-generation equipment and software, as well as top-tier data centers we invest in. We guarantee that our clients rely on the most advanced technologies, server equipment, and uncompromising security standards for their business in the online space. 

Learn how we can take care of your business's online security. Contact the IT Experts at AbsCloud and ask us about our Cloud solutions for companies with large ERP and CRM systems, intensive email communication, online stores, or other businesses that value security and maximum uptime.