How to Protect Yourself Against DDoS Attacks
If your website receives a massive increase in traffic on any given day and your website goes down, you may be a victim of a DDoS attack. DDoS is the acronym for distributed denial of service, and for many companies with active websites, it can be a scary proposition.
In 2016 alone, major companies’ websites experienced DDoS attacks. From Twitter to Soundcloud, from Spotify to Shopify, and other websites in between were made inaccessible to many users.
In the ever-changing world of technology and with the advancement of the Internet of Things, DDoS attacks are becoming more frequent. According to a 2016 report by Cisco, DDoS attacks are expected to grow by 260% by 2020.
Today, businesses have to screw the lid on super tight to their website security endeavors. Here are a few ways to do so:
#1 Create an efficient plan of action in advance. Your plan might consist of trashing logs when malicious activity is suspected and involving your ISP to discuss free and paid DDoS protection services to mitigate loss.
#2 Monitor your website’s traffic levels. Having a person to look at website traffic on a daily or weekly basis and noting when abnormal traffic is creeping in can help you to quickly realize and deal with changes.
#3 Get a dedicated server. One safeguard against DDoS attacks is ensuring adequate bandwidth. One way to ensure adequate bandwidth is to purchase a dedicated server. A dedicated server can serve as your first defense against such attacks.
#4 Update regularly. When updates are present, be sure to install them. In some platforms such as WordPress, the risk of attack is mitigated as security loopholes are often filled with updates.