How To Avoid DDOS Attack
To avoid a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack, or at least minimize its impact, you must combine prevention, detection, and mitigation strategies. A DDoS attack floods your system or network with traffic, making it slow or entirely unavailable.
Here are effective ways to prevent or reduce damage from a DDoS attack:
🧱 1. Use a Web Application Firewall (WAF)
- Filters and blocks malicious traffic before it reaches your server.
- Services like Cloudflare, AWS WAF, and Imperva offer DDoS mitigation layers.
🌐 2. Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
- Distributes traffic across global edge servers, absorbing large bursts.
- Cloudflare, Akamai, and Fastly can shield your origin server from direct hits.
☁️ 3. Host With DDoS Protection
- Choose a hosting provider with built-in DDoS protection, like:
- AWS Shield
- Azure DDoS Protection
- Google Cloud Armor
🧠 4. Monitor Traffic Patterns
- Use tools to detect traffic spikes and anomalies in real time.
- Services like Datadog, Zabbix, or New Relic help spot early signs of attack.
🚪 5. Rate Limit and Throttle Requests
- Block IPs that send too many requests per second.
- Implement CAPTCHAs, API rate limiting, or connection limits to reduce abuse.
🔐 6. Harden Your Network Infrastructure
- Configure firewalls and routers to:
- Drop malformed packets
- Block unused ports
- Detect and block known bad IPs
📛 7. Hide Your IP Address
- Use reverse proxies and don’t expose your origin server’s IP.
- Attackers can’t DDoS what they can’t find.
👥 8. Deploy Anycast Networks
- Spreads traffic across multiple servers worldwide.
- Most large DNS providers and CDNs use this to deflect DDoS attacks.
🛡️ 9. Have an Incident Response Plan
- Prepare a runbook that includes:
- Who to contact (ISP, cloud provider, DDoS mitigation service)
- What systems to isolate or scale
- How to notify users
🔄 10. Use DNS Services with DDoS Resilience
- Providers like Cloudflare DNS, Google Cloud DNS, or AWS Route 53 are more resistant than self-hosted options.
Bonus: Tools & Services to Consider
- Cloudflare: Free tier includes DDoS protection.
- Radware, Arbor Networks, Imperva: Enterprise-grade solutions.
- Fail2Ban, iptables: For server-level blocking (basic layer).