One of the biggest threats that websites face is Distributed Denial of Service. They are extremely aggressive and invasive that can have an extremely detrimental effect on the performance, revenue, and reputation of your website. So if the virtual private server is your choice of hosting, you need to ensure that these threats are kept as far away from your website as possible.
A well-fortified server is required to keep your website safe at all times. Unfortunately, attacks can catch you off-guard. A small breach for a limited time can still wreak havoc and cause irreparable damage. Before finding out how you can keep a DDoS attack away, let’s see what it entails.
What is a DDoS attack?
A DDoS attack entails a huge amount of traffic being deliberately sent to a particular website to overwhelm it into crashing. It is similar to a horde of people going to a shop at the same time and expecting to be catered to at the same time.
Since that is not possible, there is a disruption in the service provided. A botnet is a group of computers used by hackers to launch a DDoS attack on your website. Your website cannot keep up with the surge in demand which will lead to extended downtime.
What types of DDoS could harm your VPS?
There are several types of DDoS attacks if you look at them from a technical point of view. There are some that target a VPS server by overwhelming it. Others, target the networking hardware and bring it down. Volume attacks are the most popular choice of DDoS weapons for most hackers. They aim for massive amounts of connections to a particular low-level network.
Since proper certain security measures could still neutralize this attack, DDoS attackers focused on more vulnerable parts of the network. In their search, they came upon aspects of the network to be exploited using small messages to ensure your system still goes down for a considerably long time. This leads these attacks to have top amplification rates.
The protocol attack focuses on the protocols that dictate several aspects of the internet and results in them hanging when they attempt to carry out a valid request. Beyond that, there are application-layer attacks. They aim to hit your server software.
Also Read: What is DDoS Mitigation and 4 Tips to Prevent an Attack
What makes these attacks dangerous and difficult to detect is the fact that they look very similar to legitimate user activity. The amplification rates of HTTP GET can skyrocket which results in a huge server crash with even a tiny amount of requests.
HTTP POST attacks take it a step further by focusing on high volumes of data to disrupt the network framework. These are just small ways in which a DDoS attack can be launched to wreak havoc on your system.
With the wide range of tools at hackers’ disposal, they can easily launch a successful attack on your VPS server. Hence, it is crucial to fortify your VPS hosting using advanced measures against DDoS attacks.
How do you prevent this from happening?
DDoS attacks can be kept away from your VPS server by implementing security measures to ensure your website remains safe. You should always choose a web hosting service that provides ample DDoS protection instead of expecting you to buy other ways of keeping your system safe from these attacks.
There should also be no delay in the implementation of these security measures. Hence, selecting a web hosting service that includes DDoS protection is your first line of defense against these attacks.
If you are starting from the ground up, you should ensure you Apple upgrades and updates to your OS for all of your web apps. You should have a setup of antivirus software to ensure all of your files are continuously scanned to detect any infected ones.
This can be achieved through your WAF configuration. One of the crucial actions you need to take is to create backups. This will help you recover your data in case you fall victim to a ransomware attack. You can minimize your vulnerability, you can use a content delivery system that can ensure you do not run out of resources during a DDoS attack.
It can also do the work of a WAF and ensure increased bandwidth at an economical cost. You should also choose a web hosting provider that offers effective customer support available 24/7 through calls, emails, texts, and raising tickets. This ensures you receive help immediately and the attack is stopped before it can cause any damage.
Conclusion
When your website is hosted on a VPS server hosting, there are several things you need to keep in mind. Keeping in mind how destructive a DDoS attack can be, it is crucial to prioritize enforcing preventive security measures to protect your server from these attacks. Applying the methods mentioned in this article will ensure your VPS server is entirely protected so that your website can be safe and grow exponentially.