The Simple Explanation
Imagine your website is a restaurant with one door. Normally, customers come in one at a time or in small groups. But what if someone organized thousands of people to all try to enter at once? The door would be blocked, and real customers couldn't get in.
That's exactly what a DDoS attack does to your website. Attackers use many computers (sometimes millions) to send so much fake traffic to your site that it can't handle real visitors anymore.
How DDoS Attacks Work
- 1. Building a Botnet: Attackers infect thousands of computers with malware
- 2. Coordinated Attack: All infected computers target your website at once
- 3. Server Overload: Your server can't handle the massive traffic
- 4. Service Disruption: Real users can't access your website
Types of DDoS Attacks
- Volume Attacks: Flood your bandwidth with junk traffic
- Protocol Attacks: Exploit weaknesses in network protocols
- Application Attacks: Target specific web applications or services
- Reflection Attacks: Use other servers to amplify the attack
Why DDoS Attacks Happen
Financial Gain
Extortion, ransom demands, or competitive advantage
Revenge
Disgruntled customers, employees, or competitors
Activism
Political protests or ideological disagreements
Real-World Impact
DDoS attacks can cost businesses thousands of dollars per hour in lost revenue, damaged reputation, and recovery costs. Some famous attacks have taken down major websites for hours or even days.
- • E-commerce sites lose sales during downtime
- • Gaming servers frustrate players and lose users
- • News websites miss breaking story traffic
- • SaaS platforms breach service level agreements
How to Protect Yourself
Basic Protection
- • Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
- • Enable rate limiting on your server
- • Configure your firewall properly
- • Monitor traffic patterns regularly
Advanced Protection
- • Deploy a Web Application Firewall (WAF)
- • Use DDoS protection services
- • Hide your origin server IP address
- • Implement geographic filtering