DDoS attacks, which are on the rise today, pose a great threat to WordPress sites. In this article, we will draw attention to some of the precautions to be taken for the safety and health of your website.

DDoS saldırıları 2023’te hızla arttı ve 2023’ün ilk yarısında yıllık %31 artışla yaklaşık 7,9 milyon DDoS saldırısı gerçekleşti.

TechTarget

What are DDos Attacks?

DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks are cyber-attacks that aim to prevent a target from providing service by sending excessive amounts of traffic to a target, usually a website, as we will discuss in this article.

Basic characteristics of DDoS attacks and how they work:

Botnet Usage: Usually through malware (malicious software), it takes over many computers (called bots/zombies) and controls and uses them to attack a target. This network of computers under attack is called a botnet.

Traffic Intensity: Excessive traffic directed to the destination can cause the destination to exceed its capacity, slowing it down or even taking it completely out of service. This traffic prevents actual users from accessing the service.

Types of Attack:

Volumetric Attacks: It aims to fill up bandwidth by sending large amounts of data.
Protocol Attacks: Exploits weaknesses in the target's network infrastructure. For example, SYN flood attacks.
Application Layer Attacks: They target specific web applications and aim to slow down or crash them. For example, HTTP flood attacks.
Objectives: DDoS attacks can be carried out for a variety of purposes. These can include damaging a competing business, demanding a ransom for a service (ransom DDoS), protesting for political or ideological reasons (hacktivism).

7 Ways to Detect DDoS Attacks

These attacks can be difficult to identify, but knowing the signs can help you respond quickly and effectively with the right DDoS prevention. Here are some key indicators to watch for:

Slow Network Performance

One of the first signs of a DDoS attack is a noticeable slowdown in your network. Your WordPress websites may take longer to load and users may experience lag. The reason for this slowdown is that the server is flooded with a large amount of malicious traffic, making it difficult to process potential requests.

Increase in Spam Emails

An unexpected increase in spam emails can be a red flag. While not a direct DDoS attack, spam can be part of a larger strategy to flood your network with unwanted traffic and distract from the main attack on your servers.

Network Bottlenecks

Network Bottlenecks occur when the flow of traffic is too much for the network to handle, causing delays and congestion. This results in slow internet speeds, disconnections or the inability to access certain network resources. These bottlenecks are a common symptom of a volumetric DDoS attack.

Unavailability of a Specific Service

A particular service, such as your website or email server, may be under attack if it suddenly becomes unavailable. DDoS often hits specific services, pushing them to the point of failure and making them inaccessible to users.

Unusual Traffic Patterns

Watch out for traffic that does not match normal user behavior. This may include spikes in traffic during certain hours or an unusual amount of traffic from a single IP address or region. DDoS generates traffic that appears different from typical usage patterns.

Disproportionate Increase in Demand

A sudden, disproportionate increase in requests to a specific endpoint can signal a DDoS attack. For example, if your login page or checkout process is suddenly flooded with requests, this could be an attempt to overload those specific services.

Unusual Device Behavior

Devices on your network that are acting strangely or showing signs of strain can also be indicative of a DDoS attack. This includes servers not responding, high CPU utilization for no obvious reason, or network devices such as routers and switches running at capacity. Recognizing these signs early can help you reduce the impact of a DDoS attack. Continuous monitoring and understanding of your network's normal behavior is critical to identifying and responding to them.

DDoS Attack Prevention Tips

Protecting your WordPress site from DDoS attacks requires building a strategic and multi-layered defense system. By integrating many protection measures, you can significantly improve the security of your network and applications.

Provide Network and Application Protection

A strong and layered defense strategy is essential to protect your WordPress site from DDoS threats. Controlling the request rate involves limiting the number of requests users can make to your server in a given time period. For example, if you have an online store, you can prevent excessive requests by configuring it to accept a maximum of 50 requests per second per user. Using a Web Application Firewall (WAF), you can inspect incoming traffic and block malicious requests, while allowing genuine requests to pass through. Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems (IDPS) monitor suspicious activity and automatically block malicious actions.

Build Distributed and Scalable Infrastructure

Effective DDoS mitigation requires a strategic approach with a strong infrastructure. Anycast routing distributes the load by directing incoming traffic to multiple data centers around the world. Load balancers distribute incoming traffic across multiple servers, preventing one server from being overloaded. Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) cache copies of your site's content on servers around the world, reducing the load on your main server and increasing your site's security against DDoS attacks.

Benefit from DDoS Protection Services

Specialized DDoS protection services work like personal guards for your site. These services constantly monitor your traffic and use advanced techniques to filter out malicious activity. For example, solutions like AWS Shield are designed to detect and neutralize attacks in real time.

Monitor and Respond to Traffic Inconsistencies

Monitoring your traffic is essential for a secure WordPress site. Using real-time traffic analysis tools, you can detect any irregularities. You can implement rate-based alerts to warn you when traffic exceeds certain thresholds. For example, if your typical traffic is 100 requests per minute and suddenly increases to 10,000, you will receive an alert.

Implement Strong Access Control and Regular Audits

Controlling access to the network is essential. Implement IP blacklisting to exclude malicious IP addresses and allow only trusted addresses. Regular security audits are essential to identify and address weak points. Tools like Nessus can help you keep your defenses up to date and strong by scanning your network for potential weak points.

Infrastructure Transition

To fend off DDoS attacks, you need a strong hosting infrastructure that integrates DDoS protection services. The hosting architecture is designed to provide superior DDoS attack protection. By integrating with high-level DDoS protection services, you can eliminate low-level synchronization flood attacks as all web traffic is routed through these services. This integration provides comprehensive DDoS protection by blocking unwanted TCP/UDP connections from specific IP addresses or networks at the edge of the network. Automated features continuously detect brute force attacks on your WordPress site. Malicious actors are instantly blocked from the infrastructure, strengthening security measures and providing effective DDoS mitigation.

Taking your security measures is one of the biggest steps against cyber attacks. Cyber security should not be taken lightly and you should not take a step back. You should always be attentive to the health of your website and the changes that occur on your website. After taking precautions for the overall health and security of your website, be careful to consider the details that can cause other security problems. For example; your payment transactions.

For the safety of both your business and your customers, you should always choose payment systems with strong security measures. POS Integrator is with your business and your customers with frequent updates by its developers and features that facilitate secure payment!

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