Introduction
A lot of things have changed in the business world since the onset of the pandemic. While many companies learned how to be more flexible, these changes have also brought added security risks with them. ISP’s have seen more traffic than ever over the past three years which has given rise to even more criminals and hackers than ever before. They have taken to attacking service providers, businesses, and even governments with impunity.
With DDoS attacks on the rise, it is important to know what they are and how you can protect your business from them going forward.
What Is A DDoS Attack?
A DDoS attack is a denial of service attack that is aimed at disrupting the regular flow of internet traffic in a specific location. These targeted cyber attacks prevent regular users from accessing a site or company while also opening that target to data breaches and more. Most hackers use this form of attack to infiltrate the target to steal information. In some cases, this is sensitive consumer information and passwords while in others, it is critical information about the target itself.
How Have DDoS Attacks been Changing?
In the last year, DDoS attacks have increased more than 500% when compared to previous years. The increase in malicious attacks coincides directly with the rise in consumer dependence on online services and companies’ reliance on telecommuting by their staff. An increase in ISP usage was so large, that it was overwhelming for most providers to the point where their security measures were no longer as effective. Both short attacks and other abnormal patterns were noted, which allowed for widespread disruption and even data breaches.
How Can DDoS Attacks Hurt Your Company
Companies have always been the target of cyber attacks but with more people working from home, DDoS attacks and brute force attacks have skyrocketed. Most businesses make sure things are secure at their end, but forget to provide the same type of security to employees who have remote access. If your business is vulnerable to attack, not only is sensitive or proprietary information at risk, but the information of your site visitors and customers is also at risk. Even if a DDoS attack is unable to break through and steal important data, these attacks do prevent real site visitors, employees, and consumers from accessing your site. This can result in a loss of reputation, contracts, and more.
How To Mitigate DDoS Attacks
Proper patch management and secure RDP protocols are critical if you want to protect your business while also allowing your staff to work remotely.
There should always be a limited number of users allowed to connect to the corporate servers online at any one time. Strong password policies with three or four-step authentication are also critical. There is no perfect solution but exercising diligence, disabling external connections through TCP & UDP ports, and maintaining strict patch management is an effective way to prevent most DDoS attacks from being successful. For more information or help implementing protections from DDoS attacks, contact us to schedule a free consultation.
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