How to protect businesses from DDoS attacks

First, it is crucial to understand the nature of DDoS attacks. A DDoS attack occurs when an attacker overloads an organization’s network system with a large amount of invalid traffic, with the goal of congesting the system and preventing it from serving legitimate user requests. DDoS attacks can target various layers of the OSI model, with Layer 3 (Network) and Layer 4 (Transport) being the most commonly targeted.

DDoS attacks at Layer 3 typically target the network bandwidth of the system, disrupting its operation due to the volume of invalid data packets, leading to network congestion. Meanwhile, at Layer 4, attacks often flood transport protocols like TCP or UDP, preventing the server from handling valid connection requests, leading to service denial.

To defend against these threats, understanding the different types of attacks is essential. Below are some of the most common types of DDoS attacks today:

Volumetric attacks

This is the most common type of DDoS attack, focusing on overwhelming the system with large amounts of data traffic to exhaust its bandwidth. If not detected in time, volumetric attacks can cause significant damage.

In 2020, Google faced the largest volumetric attack in history, with peak traffic reaching 2.54 Tbps. Although Google's system managed to mitigate the issue, the potential damage for smaller businesses could be severe, leading to customer loss, reduced revenue, and even damage to brand reputation.

Application layer attacks

These attacks target the web application layer (Layer 7), overloading services, websites, and applications. This type of attack is harder to detect because it mimics legitimate traffic.

In 2018, a DDoS attack on Github caused system disruption for more than 10 minutes, with peak attack traffic reaching 1.35 Tbps. Although Github quickly recovered thanks to a robust defense system, this incident serves as a warning to businesses about the risks of business interruption from such attacks.

Protocol attacks

These attacks exploit weaknesses in network protocols, depleting server resources and disrupting services. The SYN Flood attack is a typical example.

In 2020, a protocol attack on Amazon Web Services (AWS) significantly drained system resources, temporarily disrupting many businesses using AWS services. This interruption affected thousands of businesses, especially those relying on AWS for critical services.

With the rise of DDoS attacks, implementing protective solutions is crucial to ensuring business continuity and safeguarding important business data.

The foundation of defense against DDoS attacks is conducting a comprehensive DDoS risk assessment. This crucial process involves thoroughly examining the organization's network architecture to identify potential vulnerabilities that could be exploited in an attack. By understanding the specific risks and potential impacts on business operations, businesses can begin to build a defense strategy to directly address these vulnerabilities. Additionally, recognizing the early signs of an attack can help business teams respond quickly and effectively, minimizing potential damage.

A DDoS risk assessment should involve collaboration between stakeholders, including IT teams, cybersecurity experts, and external support if the business uses market security solutions. This holistic approach ensures that all aspects of the business are considered in the risk assessment process, leading to a more comprehensive and effective defense strategy. This assessment should be reviewed and updated periodically to adapt to new threats and changes in the business environment, ensuring continuous protection against DDoS attacks.

To protect systems and maintain stable operations, organizations need to implement effective preventive measures. Here are important ways to safeguard organizations from DDoS attacks:

Using DDoS-Resistant Content Delivery Networks (CDN)

A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is one of the most powerful tools to protect organizations from DDoS attacks. A CDN works by distributing a website or application’s content across a globally distributed server network. In the event of an attack, the CDN can distribute traffic across various distribution points, reducing the load on the main server and preventing overload.

Additionally, CDNs integrate advanced traffic filtering and analysis technologies, allowing them to identify and disperse unauthorized access requests before they reach the origin server. With the ability to distribute large amounts of traffic and block invalid traffic, CDNs help protect systems from large-scale DDoS attacks and ensure that only legitimate traffic is allowed access to the system.

Implementing Web Application Firewalls (WAF)

A Web Application Firewall (WAF) is an important tool in defending systems from DDoS attacks, particularly those targeting the application layer (Layer 7). WAFs operate by monitoring and filtering traffic to web applications, blocking malicious requests, and allowing only legitimate ones to be processed.

WAFs can analyze traffic based on pre-established rules and policies, helping to block DDoS attacks such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and other attacks targeting the application layer. Combining WAF with CDN further enhances comprehensive protection for the system.

Increasing bandwidth and server capacity

Boosting bandwidth and expanding server capacity is an effective solution to counter DDoS attacks. The primary reason websites become overloaded and go offline is often due to their inability to handle large amounts of fake traffic generated by these attacks. Therefore, investing in additional bandwidth and upgrading servers is a highly recommended mitigation strategy.

For example, if your website can handle 1 million concurrent users and a DDoS attack generates only 500,000 fake visits, the system can continue to function normally without being affected. This ensures website stability even during an attack.

Strengthening hardware

Investing in high-quality networking hardware is an important step in detecting and mitigating sudden cyberattacks, including DDoS attacks. Network hardware includes essential components that maintain data flow, such as routers, cables, network switches, and network cards. Using high-end devices allows you to configure them to enhance system protection. An example is setting up network firewalls to block invalid external requests, which is an effective DDoS mitigation measure, especially suitable for businesses using internal networks.

However, for small business owners or website administrators, investing in expensive network hardware can be a major challenge due to the costs and technical knowledge required to manage complex systems. For this reason, a better option is to use cloud security services from reputable providers, which are professionally managed. This way, you can leverage a robust network infrastructure without having to bear the costs and responsibilities of maintenance yourself.

Real-Time monitoring and attack detection

Continuous network monitoring is a key factor in early detection of DDoS attacks. Organizations need to use network monitoring tools to track traffic and identify abnormal signs, such as a sudden spike in traffic or unusual connection requests.

Early detection gives organizations time to deploy mitigation measures before the attack causes serious damage. Modern network monitoring systems often integrate artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to analyze traffic patterns and automatically detect threats.

Developing a DDoS response and prevention plan

Finally, a DDoS prevention and response plan is essential to ensure organizational security. This plan should include specific procedures for quickly responding in the event of an attack, from notifying stakeholders to deploying mitigation measures and recovering the system.

Organizations should regularly conduct cybersecurity drills to assess DDoS prevention capabilities and improve existing security measures. Training employees on cybersecurity awareness is also an important part of ensuring that the entire organization is prepared to deal with threats.

In the context of growing digitalization, protecting websites and applications from Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks has become a key factor for businesses. VNCDN, Asia's leading Content Delivery Network (CDN) solution developed by VNETWORK, not only enhances content delivery but also provides effective DDoS prevention measures, helping businesses ensure stable and continuous operations.

Robust infrastructure

VNCDN is built on a global, powerful infrastructure with more than 280 POPs in 33 countries and a total international bandwidth capacity of up to 57 Tbps. In Vietnam, VNCDN is present in top-tier data centers such as Viettel, FPT, VNPT, and Mobifone, offering domestic uplink bandwidth of up to 10 Tbps. This system can serve more than 5 million concurrent users and handle 8 billion requests per day.

When a DDoS attack occurs, VNCDN distributes traffic to server clusters close to the user’s geographic location, reducing the load on the origin server and preventing overload. This ensures the system continues to operate smoothly, avoiding service disruption and maintaining user experience.

Integration of advanced security technologies

VNCDN also provides advanced security features such as Origin Shield, HTTP/3 protocol support, and Cloud WAF. Origin Shield stores cached copies at a central point, reducing the load on the origin server and ensuring faster content delivery. This feature also acts as a firewall, forwarding only valid requests to the origin server, blocking DDoS attacks and unauthorized access attempts.

Support for the HTTP/3 protocol improves data transmission performance, reduces latency, and enhances network security. These enhancements help VNCDN not only protect systems from attacks but also deliver a smooth and fast experience for users. Additionally, Cloud WAF (Web Application Firewall) is integrated into VNCDN to protect web applications from network threats such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), and other security vulnerabilities.

Optimizing content with additional support features

VNCDN also integrates content optimization technologies such as the WebP image format, which reduces image file sizes while maintaining quality. This not only speeds up page loading times but also helps save bandwidth and improves user experience, especially on mobile devices.

VNCDN integrates the Cloud Storage S3 service, providing an efficient and flexible cloud storage solution for businesses. With Cloud Storage S3, businesses can easily store and manage large volumes of data, from documents, images, and videos to application data, without worrying about storage limits. This service stands out for its flexible scalability, meeting the ever-growing needs of businesses. Notably, Cloud Storage S3 ensures high reliability through a multi-layer backup and data recovery system, minimizing the risk of losing critical information while maintaining the availability and security of data.

With a robust infrastructure, intelligent distribution capabilities, and advanced security features, VNCDN is a comprehensive CDN solution that helps protect systems from DDoS attacks. Businesses using VNCDN not only ensure service stability and continuity but also enhance the end-user experience, while optimizing costs and resources.