Enterprise DDoS Protection: What You Need to Know

As AI adoption, cloud services and the reliance on internet-connected devices continue to grow, so too does the risk of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. Enterprise DDoS protection is a vital consideration for any business that relies on resources connected to the internet.

What Is DDoS and How Does It Work?

A DDoS attack is a cyber threat that seeks to make a website, service or network unavailable by overwhelming it with traffic from multiple entities. From a high level, a DDoS attack is like an unexpected traffic gridlock clogging up the highway, preventing regular traffic from arriving at its planned destination.

DDoS attacks are usually launched from collections of compromised machines across many different networks, making them very difficult to filter out by the source.

This web of internet-connected devices, commonly referred to as a “botnet,” is used to send malicious requests to a target machine or network. In many cases, volumetric attacks are utilized to flood and overwhelm the victim, causing their resources to become unavailable.

These actions can take a business offline, cause grave corporate financial consequences and severely damage a reputation due to slow response intervals. Additionally, some criminals will use the threat of DDoS attacks as a means of extortion, putting the victim in a difficult position if they know they are not properly protected.

There are many reasons why an enterprise business might be vulnerable to a DDoS attack, but a common cause is often due to the entity’s infrastructure not designed to handle large volumes of unexpected traffic. This is often in tandem with the realization that the proper protection measures had not been proactively deployed.

How to Identify a DDoS Attack

Understanding symptoms of a DDoS attack and monitoring your network will save valuable time and put your organization in the best possible position to reduce the impact of malicious behavior. The most obvious sign of a DDoS attack is when your site or service suddenly slows down significantly. Since other events could potentially create similar performance issues, further investigation typically needs to take place to validate the exact cause of the issue. Below are common high-level warning signs and indicators to help identify a potential DDoS attack:

• Increases in average response/request time of a device/network
• Volatility in page views or hits
• Bulk traffic from a single location, IP address or IP range
• An abnormally high number of single-page requests
• A sudden decrease in website performance or availability

Preventative Measures You Can Take Against an Attack

Create a Distributed Denial of Service Response Plan

A DDoS response plan is a document that outlines the steps an organization will take in the event of a DDoS attack. The plan should include contact information for key personnel, procedures for identifying and mitigating an attack, and a communication strategy for notifying customers, employees and other stakeholders.

Validate Firewalls and Intrusion Detection Systems

Ensure firewalls and intrusion detection systems are in place, updated and properly configured to help protect your network from being compromised. However, it is important to note that these are surface-level methods of protection and not intended to be a comprehensive solution to mitigate DDoS attacks.

Leverage Specialized DDoS Hardware and Software

It is vitally important to deploy an anti-DDoS solution that includes hardware and software that is specifically designed to work in tandem with each other to successfully protect and mitigate attacks. Equally imperative, these solutions are only effective if they are properly installed and set up by knowledgeable personnel.

Choosing a DDoS Protection Provider

When choosing a DDoS protection provider, there are many questions to ask. A few examples are:

• What types of protection are offered and how will they meet my specific needs?
• How much experience does your organization have working with DDoS attacks?
• What kind of support is offered?
• How scalable is the protection?
• What are the fees involved and how is the billing structured?

Enterprise DDoS Protection FAQs

What is DDoS scrubbing?

Scrubbing involves redirecting potentially harmful traffic through specialized resources that identify clean vs. malicious traffic, allowing only the clean traffic to be delivered to its destination.

How often do these attacks happen?

The frequency and size of DDoS attacks are on the rise, unfortunately. Every minute of every day, there is a real-time DDoS attack happening somewhere.

Is DDoS protection necessary?

DDoS attacks can have a devastating effect on businesses of all sizes, it’s a network security threat that cannot be ignored. That is why it is important to have a robust DDoS protection plan.

Do Not Let Your Business Fall Victim to a DDoS Attack

Do not wait until it is too late. Plan early and be prepared. Learn more about how Segra can help combat and ensure your DDoS protection needs are met by clicking here.

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