Reasons Why Every Business Need DDoS Protection

DDoS(Distributed Denial of Service) attacks corrupt a network by attacking nodes present in the network thus blocking incoming traffic to websites and risking the loss of confidential data. These attacks can shut down a website thus affecting the business directly. It is essential for all businesses with websites to prepare themselves to prevent DDoS attacks. Hackers attack to gain access to the databases and steal the data of customers to use it for their own benefits while some others blackmail companies after hacking their networks by demanding a ransom to rectify the attack which is known as cyber-extortion. Hackers’ main motive seems to be personal benefits that have a high monetary value which will help them lead a better life from the cost and effort of others.

Costs of DDoS attacks

Realization of the value or cost of network traffic being blocked or the downtime that is going to cost a business is the key to understanding the level of impact of DDoS attacks and plan and choose a DDoS protection solution accordingly. The cost of legitimate traffic being blocked by accessing the websites is not only of monetary value but involves a lot of other costs such as :

• Customer experience

Customer is the king for any business and if a website performance is not up to the expectation of the customer providing them with a bad experience it could lead to the customer moving to another website for the same product or service. A DDoS protection solution would help in sustaining the customer. Competition is fierce in all industries and finding a similar alternative is very easy thus, to ensure customer loyalty to a business serious thoughts must be given on how to prevent DDoS attacks.

• Reputation

Attack on one customer could ruin the reputation that a business has built over its years of existence. For example, CloudFare a content delivery provider network was attacked with 400 GB per second of traffic and the attack was targetting at a single customer but the impact was huge on CloudFare’s entire network. The trust of customers once lost is difficult to gain back and this would cost the business time and a lot of effort. News about DDoS attacks spread fast especially with large businesses thus affecting the brand name.

• Financial value

A network attacked by DDoS would lead to loss of data, assets, and other resources. The financial or monetary value is high when it comes to repairing, rebuilding, or purchasing new equipment and repair of the attacked network. The hardware components are expensive to purchase and install such as routers or computers.

• Repair and rebuild

Identifying the attack node after the attack has happened and repairing the node prior to repairing other parts of the network involves a lot of overhead costs such as labor, equipment, and other resources.

Ease of carrying out DDoS attacks

Cyber attacks in the digital age are very predominantly increasing. The different ways these attacks are carried out are:

• Targetted attacks on application vulnerabilities

Hackers may easily attack with lesser compute power by identifying vulnerabilities in applications and launching a payload to exploit those vulnerabilities

• Malware

A software system used by hackers to steal data. There are few types of malware including viruses, trojans, spyware, and keylogger. One virus injected in a major node of a network can be used as a command center to plan all kinds of DDoS attacks.

• Mobile Apps

Mobile apps downloaded from google play store or apple store need not be safe at all times. The permissions one gives this software may allow access to personal or confidential data on the device and can be used to do malicious things the user does not intend to do without their knowledge.

• Physical threats

Hackers might have access to the physical devices of users such as an unprotected mobile phone or laptop giving them an easy path to attack.

• Insecure networks

Accessing a Network that has malware already in it will attack the user’s system and thus the attack spreads.

Protection from DDoS attacks

The ease of attacking a network is very easy as understood from the above points. DDoS mitigation services that are managed, intelligent, and comprehensive are essential to protect the business’s digital assets. The attacks need to be prevented by having a proactive approach and strategizing as follows:

• Creating a Defense strategy

A security policy for IT is the first step in the prevention of DDoS attacks. Analysis of the network, identification of attacked nodes, and network adaptation is the method to ensure the attacked node is first cut off from the network without spreading and without disturbing the network operation.

• Stay updated

Staying updated about the latest types of DDoS attacks is essential to prepare a network to handle it. For example, six US banks including Bank of America and PNC Bank were attacked by 60 Gbps in 2012 by many methods to ensure that at least one worked. The banks were prepared to handle a few types of DDoS attacks but the new techniques and continuous attacks were hard to handle.

• Get support from Experts

Approaching experts for help, support, and guidance for DDoS protection and mitigation services are required. In-depth knowledge and hands-on experience in handling networks and websites will help in the prevention and securing networks and experts such as AppTrana would be the best option for availing prevention and mitigation services. 

In a Nutshell

Every business, whether small or large needs to carefully plan to ensure DDoS protection for their networks.  Proactive steps and taking the help of experts who offer this as a Managed Service will be well worth the investment and has to be considered as a cost of doing business as opposed to dealing with DDOS attacks reactively.

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