What DDoS attack means
DDoS attacks can take a site down for hours and are cheap for attackers to launch. CDNs and DDoS protection services absorb and filter the flood. Any business that cannot afford downtime should have this in place.
Why it matters for your website
A DDoS attack can take your site offline for hours or days, which means no leads, no sales and frustrated customers. Small sites on shared hosting are especially easy to knock over. Protection is usually far cheaper than the business lost during a long outage.
Example
During a holiday sale, an online gift shop is suddenly flooded with fake traffic and stops loading. A CDN with DDoS filtering absorbs the junk requests so real shoppers can get through.
Tips
- Put your site behind a CDN or firewall service that includes DDoS protection.
- Ask your host what happens during an attack and whether they will suspend your account.
- Keep a status page or social account ready to update customers during an outage.
Common mistakes
- Assuming your site is too small to be targeted, when many attacks are automated or random.
- Exposing your origin server's IP address so attackers can bypass your protection.
Questions about DDoS attack
What is DDoS attack?
Distributed denial of service: flooding a site with traffic from many machines to knock it offline.
How can I tell if my site is under a DDoS attack?
Signs include a sudden traffic spike from many sources, very slow loading or a site that will not load at all. Your host or CDN dashboard can usually confirm it.
Is a DDoS attack the same as being hacked?
Not exactly. A DDoS aims to overwhelm your site rather than break into it, though attackers sometimes use one as a distraction.
