DDOS attacks can be catastrophic for any business, organization or institution. Cyberattacks by denial of distributed service (DDOS) can force a business on downtime of up to 12 hours. In 2016, the Ponémon Institute noted that the average cost of a victim amounts to more than $ 740,000 for a company. Some statistics even estimate that a company may lose up to $ 350,000 per hour of stopping; Since a DDOS attack can immobilize a business for hours, it can cause huge loss of income. No company can afford not to be prepared for such an impactful attack. This is why we have prepared you an article identifying the best practices to protect you as effectively as possible against DDOS attacks.
What is a DDOS attack?
A distributed denial attack (DDOS) works as its name suggests; It is a form of cyber attack which disrupts connectivity or network services in order to deprive service users. Attacks generally use tools, such as a robot, which overwhelm the network of repeated signals until it can no longer process real user requests.
Pirates frequently target critical services, such as web services and platforms, which are often used by large companies, banks, governments and educational establishments. There is Several forms of DDOS attacksespecially volumetric attacksattacks per layer amplification and attacks by protocol. Although they differ in the way they inflict damage, these three approaches can attack a victim on several fronts to completely overwhelm their infrastructure and applications.
What is happening during a DDOS attack?
Cybercriminals perform their DDOS attacks By sending a malicious code to hundreds, even thousands of computers, asking each of them to send requests to a single company. To do this, they generally use tools such asa botnet. The botnet can be a network of private computers infected with malware that is controlled as a group, without the knowledge of each individual owner.
6 good practices to prevent DDOS attacks
Now that you know more about DDOS attackslet's see together how to avoid them:
#1 DDOS Multilayer protection
Previously, DDOS attacks were mainly level 3 or 4 – volumetric attacks which attacked the network or transport layers. Today, DDOS attacks are several types and each type targets a different layer (network layer, transport layer, session layer, application layer) or a CLOSING OF CLOSES. You must therefore adopt an intelligent and multilayer approach to detection, attenuation and protection against DDOS attacks. In other words, Your mitigation solution DDOS attacks must offer you several protective layers against all types DDOS attacks, not just volumetric attacks.
2. Early detection and continuous profiling of traffic and packets
There Early detection is essential when it comes to preventing DDOS attacks. There are several ways to proceed, but one of the most important is to permanently Traffic, requests and data packages of the website in order to understand models, nature, etc. And to block traffic, requests and useful malicious charges.
A WAF (Web Application Firewall) Intelligent, managed and complete, associated with an automated scanner, personalized rules and workflows and safety analyzes, will allow you to keep a step in advance on pirates. When a WAF is placed at the perimeter of the network, it ensures that all requests go through it. Based on the personalized rules that certified security experts design and settle, it authorizes, blocks, disputes or signals requests. Based on analyzes, experts are constantly monitoring and profiling traffic and data packages, and thus improve security for Prevent DDOS attacks.
3. Reduce exposure of the attack surface
By reducing the surface exposed to attacks, you essentially minimize the scope and the options they have to orchestrate DDOS attacks. Protect So your critical assets, your applications and other resources, your ports, your protocols, your servers and other entry points against direct exposure to pirates. There are a number of strategies that can be used to minimize exposure of the attack surface:
- Onboarding on a CDN service coupled with a WAF placed on the periphery of the network will limit direct access to the resources of servers and applications. All content is Cache and stored In cache servers distributed worldwide and requests are only processed from these servers. Content requests not cache must go through the WAF which filters bad requests.
- The use of load balancers to protect web servers and IT resources by placing them behind it.
- Maintain the cleanliness of the application or the website by deleting Unhealthy or non -relevant services, unnecessary features, existing systems or processes, etc. which are often used by attackers as entry points.
4. Strengthen network architecture
Robust and resilient network architecture is essential for Prevent volumetric DDOS attacks/Network. You must strengthen the architecture of your network so that it is capable of managing any trafficking or overvoltage without stopping time, breakdown or interruption of service.
Buying more bandwidth is often suggested as an option. However, it is not not an effective solution. The use of a CDN service allows you to take advantage of the world dispersed network and set up redundant resources, capable of facing sudden volumetric traffic peaks.
5. Understand the alert signals
DDOS attacks have certain symptoms. Among the current symptoms of a DDOS attack, let us quote a irregular connectivity on the intranetintermittent closure of websites and Disconnection of the Internet. However, the problem is that the alert signs are very similar to other problems that you may encounter with your system. For example, viruses and a slow internet connection.
If these problems seem more serious and prolonged, it is likely that your network is undergoing A DDOS attack and you must Take appropriate prevention measures.
6. A complete safety solution, not just the prevention of DDOS attacks
The implementation of a DDOS attack prevention plan and ofan intervention plan in the event of an incident is crucial, but it is not sufficient. If your application or website has security flaws and weaknesses, hackers will have gateways to orchestrate their attacks.
Your safety solution must be global and intelligent and offer a instant and permanent protection. It must be tailor -made with surgical precision and give access to certified safety experts who permanently adjust it so that Your website/application is always available.
The obvious answer is to block them, but how to do exactly? Here is a list of items to take into account for prevent or stop a DDOS attack ::
- Develop a full list of assets that you must implement to ensure appropriate DDOS identification and prevention. The use of filter tools will also make sure that the hardware/software components are configured correctly.
- Develop an intervention plan. The definition of the responsibilities of the main members of the team will guarantee an organized reaction in the event of an attack.
- Make sure that all members of Your team know exactly contacting If the attack exceeds your capacities, by defining alternative methods or solutions.
- Develop a communication flow With your customers to make sure that it is aware of any potential degradation of performance resulting from an attack.
