No, we are not talking about your relaxation time; we are talking about server/router/internet down time, which can cost organizations thousands or even millions a year. DDoS is an attack where multiple corrupt systems are used to target a single system causing the denial of service (DOS). In other words, the attack is an attempt to make an online service unavailable by overwhelming it with traffic from multiple sources. DDoS attacks are costly as you can see from the above, but they can also be costly in non-monetary terms such as reputation and intellectual property. Most companies agree that loss of intellectual property is the most detrimental. DDoS attacks can be avoided by having a proactive cyber security plan in place.
Prevention is not always a reality when it comes to DDoS attacks as they are very difficult to detect, but once detected certain counter measures are very important to surviving an attack. Being able to identify an attack early on is key. Familiarizing yourself with your normal inbound traffic profile is the first step in being able to identify an attack; most DDoS attacks normally start by a sudden spike in traffic. By seeing this abnormal spike, an organization monitoring its normal traffic should be able to tell that something is up. If you are not running a marketing campaign or special offer, then a sharp spike in traffic should be an immediate red flag.
Having and allowing for excess bandwidth can accommodate those sharp spikes in data whether it is legitimate or criminal. If it is criminal, this will give you a few extra minutes to act before your resources are completely exhausted. There are some technical measures that you can take in those first few minutes to help delay, or lessen the attack including: rate limit your router so your web server does not become overwhelmed, add in filters so your router can block/drop attack sources, or drop spoofed or ill formed packages, and timeout half-open connections more aggressively. While these options listed above can help, they will not fully solve the problem.
Next you would need to call your ISP to let them know of the attack. They will begin to counter it, however, downtime will have already hit your organization and revenue or more would have already been affected. This is where a DDoS Specialist can come in. Millennium Communications Groups can help you plan and execute an effective, proactive DDoS plan. We use state of the art technologies to help prevent DDoS attacks and more, but are also there to divert the traffic to not interrupt your normal traffic if the DDoS attack does take place.
For more information on how you can arm your company against downtime, use the contact form to get in touch with us today!