A DDoS attack can cause a lot of damage to your business. It interferes with the traffic on your app or website, and it can lead to millions in lost revenue. However, not many business owners are aware of the dangers of DDoS attacks. Read on to learn why DDoS attacks pose such a threat, as well as how to set up a DDoS mitigation plan to protect yourself against them.
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Why DDoS attacks should be a cause for concern?
A distributed denial-of-service attack, or DDoS for short, is an effort to obstruct traffic to a network or server. It achieves that by overwhelming the server or its infrastructure with unnecessary traffic. Although DDoS attacks don’t seem too dangerous, they can interfere with the success of a business quite a bit.
A single minute of downtime can cost a company $5600 on average. Additionally, the duration of DDoS attacks is steadily increasing. Many attacks last for five or six days, costing companies millions of dollars. Furthermore, Kaspersky Lab has reported that, in 2020, the number of attacks has doubled when compared to 2019.
Still, many businesses don’t consider DDoS attacks a cause for concern. Often they don’t even notice that their website is lagging until they get complaints from customers. By then, the attack has already cost them a significant amount of money. That’s why it’s important to identify a DDoS attack promptly.
Furthermore, it’s integral to have a mitigation plan ready and set when an attack happens. The best way to do that is by hiring a DDoS protection service provider. Here’s how to set up a successful mitigation plan and how to choose the right DDoS attack protection provider.
What is DDoS mitigation?
In short, DDoS mitigation is the process of protecting a server from an attack. If done successfully, mitigation can keep the website working properly during an attack. By rerouting the leftover traffic to parts of the server where it’s needed, mitigation prevents a denial of service. Therefore, it keeps the business going until the threat is dealt with.
Getting DDoS automated protection tools can go a long way in defending you from attacks. Firstly, you can opt for a detection tool. Whenever this tool detects a threat, it will inform you of it. Therefore, you won’t lose valuable traffic due to not knowing an attack is happening. Secondly, you can choose an automated mitigation tool. An automated anti-DDoS solution will filter fake traffic, lessening the impact the attack has on your business.
However, DDoS attackers have found inventive ways to bypass these tools, so you won’t be completely protected with them. In order to successfully defend a server, you need to have an efficient DDoS protection plan. Doing so will prevent your business from losing money while you’re stressing over the attack. Here’s what you should take into account when making your DDoS mitigation plan of action:
Find out what your potential points of failure are
Potential points of failure are parts of a system that are most susceptible to attacks. For example, if your business has an app, that would be a single point of failure you should focus on. Alternatively, if you only operate through a website, that’s where you’ll most likely be attacked. Knowing ahead of time what your weak points are will ensure you can protect them properly.
Make sure your ISP can handle DDoS attacks
Your Internet Service Provider can either put you at an advantage or a loss when you’re facing a DDoS attack. The primary concern of your ISP is to protect their other customers from the attack. Therefore, some ISPs end up shutting down attacked servers completely. Once they blackhole your website, it will be down indefinitely. Even if you stop the DDoS attack, you’ll end up losing valuable traffic until your ISP decides to bring your website back online. Therefore, it’s important to find a provider that can handle a larger DDoS attack without blacklisting.
Hire a DDoS protection service provider ahead of time
Make sure you decide on a skilled DDoS protection service provider before an attack happens. Talk to them in detail about what they can do to help you in case an attack happens. Make sure they’ll be available whenever you need them and that they can act quickly and efficiently. Additionally, prepare for any possible DDoS attack scenarios with the provider. By doing that, you can ensure you’ll have a reliable company by your side in case something goes wrong, and you won’t have to deal with the problem by yourself.
Identify which parts of the server are most important
When you’re facing a DDoS attack, it’s important to know what to protect first. Look at what will impact your business the most if it gets attacked. Certain parts of an app or website are integral for your business, while others aren’t as important. If you have a website, make sure your shopping page is as protected as it can be. However, you don’t need to worry as much about your About Me page, for example.
Figure out what an acceptable mitigation time is for you
You should consider how fast you want to fix the attack. If you’re looking for quick DDoS protection, automated tools may be your best choice, as they’re always on. However, these tools don’t protect network infrastructures or data centers. Alternatively, you can choose on-demand DDoS scrubbing services. They offer complete protection, but you’ll need to request the service manually. It’s best to use both services if you can. Keep the automated tool on at all times and request a manual service if you notice anything strange.
In conclusion
When setting up a DDoS mitigation plan, keep in mind which parts of your Internet presence are most valuable. Make sure to protect the most profitable parts of your app or website first. Additionally, hire a high-quality DDoS protection service provider. Doing so will ensure your business suffers as little as possible before the problem is fixed.
