DDoS Attack Explained!

Rahul B
4 min readMar 15, 2023

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A DDoS assault may be executed surprisingly easily, and the frequency of attacks is on the rise. Each year, millions of websites are impacted globally.

DDoS attacks may seem to be an unavoidable consequence of being online; the more popular your website, the more likely it may seem that you will eventually become the subject of an attack. However, you can lessen the likelihood that a DDoS attack may harm your website.

A DDoS assault is something you might be curious about. And how can I defend my website against them?

This post will define DDoS assaults, look at potential vulnerabilities for your website, and provide tips on how to lessen the likelihood and impact of such attacks.

what is DDos Attack ?

Let’s begin by defining a DDoS attack precisely and, more importantly, what it is not.

Distributed denial of service, or DDoS, is sometimes known as a basic denial of service. A DDoS attack involves flooding a website with requests over a short period of time with the intention of overwhelming it and bringing it down. The term “distributed” refers to the fact that these attacks are being launched simultaneously from various sites as opposed to a DoS, which originates from a single point.

If your website is the target of a DDoS assault, you will get tens of thousands of requests over the course of minutes, and occasionally even hours. These requests are automated and, depending on the scope of the assault, will come from a select few sources rather than being the result of a sudden increase in website traffic.

Although the two can be related, a DDoS attack is different from hacking since the attackers overwhelm your website with requests, causing it to crash or become vulnerable rather than trying to access its files or admin. However, the bulk of the time, the goal is to simply stop the site from functioning. In some situations, this will be followed by attempts to hack the site when it is susceptible.

It could seem impossible to prevent a DDoS assault because there isn’t much you can do to stop someone from flooding your site with requests.

There are steps you can take to make sure that if you are the target of a DDoS assault, your site won’t go down and won’t be open to hacking, even though you can’t do much to stop someone from trying to harm your site.

Later in this article, we’ll go over those methods, but first, let’s look at the motivations behind someone wanting to launch a DDoS assault against your website.

What Makes Someone DDoS Your Website?

So why would someone attack your WordPress website with a DDoS attack? What benefit could it possibly have for them?

There are several reasons why an attacker could wish to use a DDoS assault to take your site offline. These include assaults committed by rivals and assaults motivated by your material.

The Effects of DDos Attacks

Depending on the attack’s specifics and your level of readiness, a DDoS attack may have a range of repercussions.

1. Website Downtime

2. Server and Hosting Issues

3. Website Vulnerability

4. Lost Time and Money

What Can Make Your Website Vulnerable to DDoS Attacks?

Some sites are more vulnerable than others to DDoS attacks. These will either make you more vulnerable to the attack in the first place or to its after-effects.

  • Cheap Hosting
  • Lack of Preparation
  • Insecure or Out of Date Code

How to Protect Your Site Against DDoS Attacks

Now for the answer to the query you’ve been dying to know: how can you defend your website against DDoS attacks?

While there is no way to prevent a hacker from attempting to cause a DDoS, proper planning and proactive measures reduce the risk and potential impact of an attack.

Summary

DDoS assaults are growing more frequent and have the potential to harm systems for billions of dollars.

As you have no control over the traffic to your site, it is impossible to completely protect against DDoS attacks. But if you make use the best services, stay away from cheap hosting, and get ready for a DDoS attack if it happens, you will be far less likely to suffer.

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Rahul B

Full Stack Developer 👨‍💻 • Blockchain & Web3 • Rust Programmer⚡ • Follow for Dev tips and tech news.