14 February, 2017

Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are becoming increasingly common and one of the major concerns for most business organizations. There are thousands of ways in which these attacks may be carried out, the basic intent is the same, i.e. to cease the functioning of the target internet network. Safeguarding your corporate network against a DDoS attack requires a well-planned crisis management program. For this, you must need to understand how a DDoS attack is launched and the potential harm it can cause to your organization.

What Is A DDoS Attack?

A DDoS attack mainly involves flooding an IP address with traffic from unidentified sources. This, in turn, results in an overloading of the web server which makes it unable to respond to ‘genuine requests’ in a timely manner. The hacker may create a network of multiple computers, termed as a botnet, and use it as a vector for the attack. Due to overflow of data packets received at the same time, your website becomes unavailable to be accessed by the users.

Certain DDoS attacks may also be initiated on your company’s virtual private network (VPN) which prevents employees from logging into their email accounts when they are out of the office.  If your organization has been a victim of DDoS attack, here are some steps that you need to take in order to minimize its consequences:

Identify A DDoS Attack At The Onset

Firstly, it is important to identify a DDoS attack in its initial stages, particularly if you manage your own web servers. You should have a fair idea about how much traffic you usually receive and from which IP addresses. When you detect a steep increase in the amount of traffic, it may be due to a DDoS attack.

Get Extended Bandwidth

Another useful step can be getting more bandwidth for your web server than you actually require to handle the traffic. This way, even if a DDoS attack is launched, you would be able to manage the sudden upsurge of traffic before the resources get completely exhausted.

Identify The Source

If possible, try to identify the source of the DDoS attack. When you know the computers that are sending the fake requests, the IP addresses can be easily blocked. You can also form a cyber security strategy to protect yourself against such attacks in future.

For more tips on how to prevent and manage DDoS attacks against your organization, you can contact Centex Technologies at (855) 375 – 9654.