What is a DDoS Attack and how do you protect your business?  

What is a DDoS attack, and how do you protect your business?  

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks represent a critical cyber security threat that can cripple the online presence or connectivity of businesses, leading to significant operational, financial, and potentially reputational damage.

What is a DDoS attack?
A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is a malicious attempt by cyber criminals to disrupt the normal traffic of a targeted server, service, or network by overwhelming the target (or its surrounding infrastructure) with an overwhelming amount of Internet traffic. These attacks are executed using a large scale of compromised endpoints from other cyber attacks, such as computers/laptops and other networked resources, making them "distributed" in nature. The scale and complexity of DDoS attacks have evolved drastically over the past decade, rendering traditional cyber security measures less effective. Thankfully,  there are innovative solutions to combat these emerging threats. 

The Impact of a DDoS Attack
DDoS attacks can have significant consequences for businesses, such as:

• Operational Interruption: Critical online services and websites can become unavailable, directly affecting sales, customer support, and daily operations. 
• Reputational Damage: Frequent or high-profile attacks can erode trust in a brand, potentially leading to a loss of customers and partners. 
• Financial Losses: Beyond lost revenue from disrupted operations, businesses may face costs related to mitigation efforts, customer compensations, and increased cyber security remediation charges. 
• Regulatory Penalties: Some businesses in regulated industries may face even fines and penalties if it is determined that insufficient measures were in place to protect data or services. 

Notable Examples of DDoS Attacks
UK (United Kingdom) Instances
TalkTalk (2015): The telecom provider experienced a significant attack that compromised the data of thousands of customers, highlighting the potential for DDoS attacks to coincide with wider data breaches. In this instance, names, dates of birth, email addresses, phone numbers, and bank details were stolen. 

BBC (2015): One of the most substantial attacks in UK history, affecting the BBC's entire range of services, including their website and iPlayer platform, was attributed to a group aiming to highlight vulnerabilities. 

Global Incidents
GitHub (2018): This attack bombarded GitHub with traffic at a peak of 1.35 Tb/s, displaying the massive scale of modern DDoS attacks. GitHub's use of proactive DDoS protection services allowed it to quickly mitigate the attack. A similar attack in 2015 is believed to have originated in China and specifically targeted two GitHub projects aimed at circumventing Chinese state censorship. 

Dyn (2016): A major DNS provider was targeted, disrupting access to major websites like Twitter, PayPal, and Spotify for many users. This attack underscored the potential for DDoS attacks to impact services beyond the immediate target, affecting the broader supply chain and, to a lesser extent, the wider internet ecosystem. 

Defensive Strategies 

Overprovisioning Bandwidth
While not a standalone solution, maintaining bandwidth above average requirements can help absorb the increased traffic volume during an attack, buying valuable time for mitigation efforts. It is common for websites and services to become unavailable due to higher-than-average load that is not the direct result of a DDoS attack 

Advanced Threat Detection
Investing in advanced detection systems that use machine learning and anomaly detection can help identify and mitigate attacks before they cause considerable damage. 

Multi-Layered Defence
Employing a comprehensive security strategy that includes cloud (SASE) or physical firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and content delivery networks can help diffuse the impact of DDoS attacks across multiple layers of defence. 

Cloud-Based DDoS Protection
Cloud-based firewall services, such as SASE, can offer scalable DDoS protection. Similarly, cloud based services such as Cloudflare can act as a first layer of defence for your web traffic, leveraging their vast resources to absorb and mitigate large-scale attacks. These services often include adaptive threat intelligence to respond to evolving attack techniques. 

Regular Stress Testing
Conducting regular stress tests and penetration tests on your network can help identify vulnerabilities and prepare your team for the rapid response required during a real attack, helping you to understand mitigation and remediation procedures. 

Building Redundancy
Designing your network with multi layered redundancy in mind ensures that a DDoS attack on one node does not incapacitate your entire operation. This can include diversifying your server locations, use of high availability, and using load balancing between nodes. 

Incident Response Plan
Having a well-defined incident response plan ensures that your team knows how to react swiftly and efficiently, minimising downtime and mitigating potential damage to your business. 

How can TwentyFour IT Services keep your business protected from DDoS Downtime?
While DDoS attacks pose a significant threat to businesses worldwide, understanding their nature, recognising past incidents, and implementing robust defensive measures that align with your business continuity plan can significantly enhance a business’ resilience.

Through strategic planning and implementation of advanced protection services, and adherence to a comprehensive cyber security strategy, businesses can better safeguard themselves against the disruptive and damaging effects of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.

If you would like to find out how to protect your business from attacks such as these, which could cripple your business, or even just prepare for unexpectedly increased traffic, fill out the form below to take our FREE Cyber Security Health Check, and we can work with you to ensure that you have a tailored and comprehensive solution to protect your business from cyber security threats.