The Rise of DDoS Attacks: How to Prevent Them
Imagine you're about to serve dinner at an important gathering, and suddenly the power goes out. It wasn’t random; someone caused the blackout. That’s how sudden and destabilizing DDoS attacks can be. Like an unexpected storm that paralyzes a city, these events can leave a business without access, without answers, and without a plan.
A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack occurs when one or more hackers flood servers, networks, or applications with excessive traffic. The goal is to overwhelm the system so legitimate users can no longer access services or reach their destination.
Protecting web applications and server infrastructures from these attacks is a must for any organization with an online presence, which is 99.9% of them. The arrival of managed detection and response services has significantly reduced the reach of these attacks, but what are the most effective ways to mitigate them?
How to Spot the Signs of a DDoS Attack
Early detection can lead to early DDoS protection, minimizing the damage. The trap with DDoS attacks is that many of the warning signs resemble normal technical issues, making it easy to underestimate the threat. Understanding these signs helps you respond faster and more effectively.
Website Performance Issues
The most common red flag is poor website performance. Your site, mobile app, or API may respond unusually slowly, take longer to load, or behave inconsistently across pages. These issues often start intermittently but become more frequent, leading to extended downtime.
Abnormal Traffic Behavior
Monitoring how traffic moves through your site can reveal early signs of trouble. If thousands of visits suddenly arrive that don’t match your usual patterns, it’s time to pay attention. This traffic often comes from unexpected regions or behaves oddly, repeating identical requests like digital clones.
Network Connectivity Problems
Is your internet connection acting up? That’s a warning sign. You might notice irregular connectivity within your internal network or strange disconnection patterns. These issues can affect multiple services at once, suggesting a broader attack rather than an isolated technical glitch.
Unusual Server Resource Consumption
This one’s a bit more technical, but if you have some IT knowledge, it’s worth noting. Common signs include CPU usage spiking without a legitimate traffic increase, memory usage hitting maximum levels, and bandwidth consumption showing abnormal patterns. If you have an internal IT team, they should be watching these metrics closely.
Unexpected Data Access Failures
When an application starts failing to retrieve data, something deeper may be happening. Interruptions in database connectivity can be a red flag, especially if timeout errors or strange messages appear in logs. For end users, this means pages that won’t load or features that stop working.
Strange Behavior Within the Application
Sometimes, the first clues come from the application itself. A surge in failed login attempts, mass cart abandonment, or sudden API errors can signal that someone is probing the system and planning an attack. These actions are rarely random, they target sensitive areas of your platform.
Communication System Disruptions
Email and messaging systems can also show signs of trouble. Delays in email delivery, issues with instant messaging services, or problems with VoIP systems often appear alongside other symptoms. These disruptions are clear indicators of a potential DDoS attack.