Navigating the Storm: A Guide for Defending Against DDoS Attacks

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks ranks among the top 5 cybersecurity threats facing UK businesses today. While major corporations like Amazon, Google, and Netflix often grab headlines due to falling victim to these attacks, small to medium-sized companies are equally susceptible. In this blog post, we'll delve into the nature of DDoS attacks, the reasons behind targeting small to medium-sized companies, and essential strategies for defending against these cyber attacks.

Understanding DDoS attacks.

DDoS attacks involve inundating a target's online services by overwhelming them with traffic from various sources, making a system so busy that it cannot process anything else, bringing day-to-day activities to a standstill.

The motivations for launching such attacks and targeting your company can vary—from disgruntled individuals seeking to make a statement to competitors aiming to cause disruption and gain financially. Attackers often exploit botnets, which are networks of infected computers, to amplify their assault, making it difficult to trace the source.

Why small to medium companies are vulnerable.

Contrary to the misconception that only large organisations are attractive targets, small to medium sized businesses are increasingly falling prey to DDoS attacks. Cybercriminals recognise that smaller businesses may lack the robust cybersecurity infrastructure and resources of larger companies, making them easier targets. Additionally, with the increase of working from home, this has increased the number of devices connected to a network, which if not kept up to date with security updates, opens more avenues for attackers to exploit.

Defending Your Business.

The key to safeguarding your business against a DDoS attack and minimising its impact is preparation. Simple things such as keeping all computers and devices (including security systems), up to date with the latest patches and updates made available, and educating your team about the risks of cyber security go a long way in protecting your business and keeping your companies data secure. Carrying out a comprehensive assessment of your IT security and infrastructure is a great place to start, as this will highlight any potential weaknesses which can be addressed. Adding a DDoS response arrangement to your Disaster Recovery plan and keeping this updated to reflect changes in your business’s infrastructure will also help to keep your business running as smoothly as possible in the event of an attack.

Implementing network security measures, such as firewalls and traffic filtering tools which can detect suspicious activity and incoming traffic and can help minimise the impact of a DDoS attack, as can utilising multiple servers, which will prevent one server from becoming overloaded. Cloud based solutions can also offer DDoS protection, which acts as an extra layer of defence.

If you are interested in evaluating the performance of your company's cybersecurity? Reach out to us today to arrange a complimentary IT MOT with no obligations. The National Cyber Security Centre has also published some guidance around DDoS attacks, which you can find here.