Distributed denial of service, or DDoS, attacks can be hugely damaging to companies that rely on their online presence for sales and new business, says DDoS mitigation provider, Prolexic.
"All businesses are potentially vulnerable as there are no advance warnings of DDoS attacks, and no way to know if and when your business could be targeted," says sales and innovation director at DRS, Jayson O'Reilly. "However, if your business is dependent on its Web site to service customers, you should have protocols in place to defend against an attack, should it happen."
O'Reilly states that some businesses are more vulnerable, or more likely to be a target, than others, which is largely industry dependent. Retail, financial services and gaming sites are popular targets.
"Businesses should establish the likelihood of attack, or if they have already been a target, what sort of volume of attacks they have experienced. If they have experienced attacks, were these prolonged, or particularly strong? These questions can help a business select a suitable level of DDoS protection," he says.
He adds that businesses that find themselves regular targets, and which have a high dependency on their Web sites for business, should consider a level of protection that comes with high service level agreements.
"They should select a DDoS mitigation provider that can have a site back up almost instantaneously, and guarantee uptime. However, this is not a cheap exercise."
There are other, less expensive, options too, according to O'Reilly, which come with a choice of protection levels, guaranteeing protection up to a certain level.
"This sort of protection is suitable for businesses that experience low level, less lengthy attacks. However, should an attack happen that is above the protection level the company has paid for, they would be on their own," O'Reilly says.
He says smaller businesses which haven't yet been hit by a DDoS attack can also follow several steps to better prepare themselves in the event of an attack, adding that companies which use dedicated servers have the option of setting up a backup connection, called an out-of-band (OOB) connection, which is essentially a backup path in case of network communication failure.
"In the event of the usual network becoming inaccessible, the businesses can use the OOB connection to access the server instead. A hosting provider can add an OOB connection, and at a price that won't break the bank."
O'Reilly says network monitoring can also be a big help. "A network monitoring system that can pick up anomalous behaviour, such as sudden spikes, can act as an early warning system for a DDoS attack."
Additionally, he advises companies to be aware of where they are most vulnerable, in order to keep an eye on those points, and strengthen them wherever possible.
"Add alerts for your weak points, and put plans in place to upgrade the security on these points," he concludes.
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