DDoS: Definition, Identification, and Prevention

In today’s digital era, online connectivity is an essential part of business and communication. Along with this, many cyber attacks around us are increasingly complex and diverse. One type of cyber attack that is detrimental is DDoS, which can disrupt online services in your company. Let’s understand what DDoS is, how to recognize DDoS attacks, and steps to prevent DDoS attacks. Let’s see the following explanation.

Understanding DDoS

DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) is a distributed denial-of-service attack as a malicious attempt targeted to spam a server or infrastructure in order to disrupt traffic from the server, service, or network. Basically, this attack focuses on making a service or website unavailable to visitors by destroying server capacity through a flood of high traffic.

How to Identify a DDoS Attack

The symptoms of a DDoS attack that can be clearly seen are that the site or service you provide suddenly becomes slow and unavailable. This unavailable service could be due to an unusual spike in traffic due to DDoS, but of course further investigation is needed to determine the cause. Some ways to recognize a DDoS attack are to know the following:

1. There is a suspicious amount of traffic from one IP address or IP range.
2. High CPU load.
3. Excessive bandwidth usage.
4. Flood of traffic from users with the same behavioral profile such as device, location, or web browser version.
5. Spikes in requests that cannot be directed to one page.
6. Traffic patterns that look odd such as at certain hours of the day or patterns that look unusual (for example, spikes every 10-15 minutes).

How to Prevent DDoS Attacks

To keep your company’s web and server performance optimal, you need to take precautions against DDoS attacks. This prevention also protects your business so that it continues to run smoothly without any obstacles to users. Here are some ways you can implement to prevent server attacks from DDoS:

1. Prepare a DDoS Response Plan
   When your company experiences a DDoS attack, you must prepare a quick response to prevent damage and stabilize your system. A well-designed DDoS response plan will provide guidance to your team and allow them to act quickly in the event of an emergency. Things to plan in a good response preparation are identifying the team that will be responsible and making sure to identify the source of the DDoS attack.
2. System Protection and Network Security Infrastructure
   Attackers to your company’s system usually look for gaps in the security system when they want to carry out a DDoS attack. Therefore, it is very important to improve the protection of the system and network security infrastructure. Firewall protection and anti-virus software are recommended as the main defense. However, also consider using more layers of security, such as anti-spam content filtering, endpoint security, or web security tools to ensure security from various sources of danger.
3. Network Traffic Monitoring
   A sudden spike in network traffic on your website server is one of the signs of a DDoS attack. Therefore, monitoring network traffic is very important. Prevention by using a network monitoring application can be a solution to avoid DDoS attacks that can cause your website server to go down. If you need recommendations for applications that include network, server, and web/API monitoring, we can recommend our product, Netmonk Prime, which is rich in superior features such as real-time monitoring, real-time notifications, and periodic reports in PDF format.
4. Using CDN
   CDN (Content Delivery Network) also helps prevent DDoS attacks through the port protocol implemented by the CDN by filtering abnormal requests to your website. CDN will work by spreading traffic across servers in different locations, so hackers will find it difficult to find your original server. Later, traffic on your website will be more balanced by using CDN, so your server does not become out of control.
5. Conduct the Best Assessment
   Regular security assessments are essential to find security vulnerabilities that could potentially be a loophole for attackers to launch a DDoS attack. Quarterly or semi-annual assessments can allow you and your team to fix security vulnerabilities before a DDoS attacker exploits the security vulnerabilities on your server.

In conclusion, DDoS is a cyber attack threat that cannot be ignored. The effects of DDoS can affect the performance of your server and business so that it cannot work optimally. With a good understanding of DDoS and how to prevent it, it can make it easier for you to avoid DDoS attacks. By implementing the right precautions, you can ensure to provide the best service to your users.

References:

https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/ddos/what-is-a-ddos-attack/

https://www.embroker.com/blog/how-to-prevent-ddos-attacks/