Pat Flynn, from Smart Passive Income, had his server hit with a DDoS attack that took down nearly all of his websites for an entire week. The earnings he lost? Nearly $12,000, but that’s only part of what this attack cost him.
In addition to losing those earnings, he lost many potential customers, had to pay a specialist to help him get his websites back online, and was incredibly stressed throughout the whole process. It’s no secret that DDoS attacks can cause massive damage to a business, so here’s how to be prepared for a DDoS attack:
First, What is a DDoS Attack?
The term DDoS stands for Distributed Denial of Service. It’s an attack on your web server that sends too many requests to a server that it slows the server to a halt, even to the point of causing server crashes and resets. An attack can cause the entire failure of a server or just increase load times to the point that real people attempting to interact with your server (be it a website, a game server, or any other web-facing server) will be faced to wait minutes to get in.
Do You Need to Worry about a DDoS Attack?
DDoS attacks don’t actually require a hacker to infiltrate your server in order to be effective. This means that they are one of the most commonly utilized attacks. Here are some of the possible motivations someone may have:
- Extortion
- Fame
- Protest
- Anger
Most people won’t need to worry about reason 2 and 3 as they often only apply to very large and well-known businesses. However, since a DDoS attack takes so little coding knowledge and requires very little to successfully work, it is often used to extort small businesses. Hackers may ask for thousands with the promise that the attack will end once they have the funds (There’s no guarantee they’ll stop the attack if you pay up!). A disgruntled customer, competitor, or even employee could also easily launch an attack on your business.
This means that everyone, even small online businesses are at risk.
If only preventing a DDoS Attack was as easy as hiring a security guard.
8 Steps to Prepare for and (Hopefully) Prevent a DDoS Attack
Like we mentioned before, DDoS attacks don’t require infiltration into the server to be successful, making them incredibly difficult to prevent. DDoS attacks are so difficult to prevent that you can’t ever guarantee you’ll be safe, but you can take steps to make it significantly more difficult for an attacker to bring down your website, app, or game and to minimize the damage if an attack is executed.
1. Invest in DDoS protection
DDoS Protection Services are often available from server hosts, so check if your current host offers this type of service. In addition to just checking if the service is offered, be sure to check that the protection includes:
- Always on protection
- Application (Layer 7) and Network (Layers 3, 4) DDoS protection.
- Blanket DDoS protection for all types of services (UDP/TCP, SMTP, FTP, SSH, VoIP, etc).
- A 24×7 security team and a 99.999% uptime SLA.
2. Use multiple servers for multiple websites
If you’re hosting multiple websites, it’s best practice to give each site their own server (or at least separate the main website from your other sites. This may cost a little more money but will prevent all of your websites from going down in the case of a successful attack.
3. Utilize constant server backups
Scheduling routine server backups is a best practice in the world of hosting, and it’s important to do this when facing DDoS attacks as well. A successful attack may cause the server to crash repeatedly and could cause significant issues that could be remedied by reverting to a prior backup.
4. Choose a host with excellent support
During any difficulties with your server, it’s important to have excellent support to reach out to. DDoS attacks are no exception. So, the support your host provides must be able to respond promptly at any time of day and any day of the year. You’ll also likely want to have multiple methods of contacting your hosts such as live chat, email, and phone calls.
5. Have your server providers support number saved in your phone
A little trick that’ll be more helpful than you think is to store your server hosts phone number in your contacts list. This will make it easy to get in touch even if you don’t have access to the internet to look up the number.
6. Don’t freak out if an attack happens
Easier said than done, keeping a level head during a server outage can help you resolve the situation as quickly as possible. So if something does happen, take a deep breath and approach it with a level head.
7. Don’t be afraid to bring in outside help
There are specialists that can be a significant help in these times if you’re willing to pay a fee. It shouldn’t be your go to, but if you’re unable to get your server online by yourself (or with the help of your host), don’t be afraid to call up a specialist.
8. Be prepared to change IP Addresses if an attack occurs
One way to stop an attack as soon as possible is to switch the IP address your server is running on. Just be aware that you’ll need to change DNS settings which could take up to 24 hours to take effect.
Conclusion
Organization’s websites and online services are facing increased risks from DDoS attacks. So, one DDoS attack can cause significant revenue loss, damage your customer relationships, and destroy your brand. Preparing for increasingly larger, more complex, and more frequent DDoS attacks with the steps outlined above will:
- Secure your revenue and brand
- Help ensure your network is always up and running
- And save you time and money
Learn More about DDoS attacks and how to prevent them:
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