Tip of the Week: How to Spot a DDoS Attack

If you are a technician and a network you are responsible for begins to go down because the traffic that is coming into the network is unusually high, there is a good chance you are experiencing a distributed denial of service attack, or DDoS. These attacks, which are extraordinarily difficult to prevent altogether, can be exceedingly costly for a business.

When targeted by a DDoS attacks, the organization’s network is overloaded with traffic. This is a deliberate action that is perpetrated by a party looking to take down your organization’s network. It is typically performed by a botnet that has been created by hackers. It quickly shifts from being an unruly inconvenience to a major operational problem, as these robots take down your ability to access your data and applications.

One major difference between a DDoS attack and your traditional hack is that the former can be carried out by almost anyone. There have been tales of individuals, including young people, successfully bringing down company networks. We’re here to tell you that you don’t have to give up to a seemingly relentless DDoS attack. By understanding your network, its traffic, and what to do if you are at the unfortunate end of one of these attacks, you won’t have to deal with the downtime that is typically associated with this type of interruption.

Understand Your Network
Do you know how much traffic comes through your network? If you don’t, you can’t immediately assume that you’ve been the target of a DDoS attack. In order to best detect abnormalities with your network traffic, familiarizing yourself with your typical network traffic is a must.

Beyond the DDoS attack, by understanding your organization’s network, you will be in a much better position to react to the most common issues your network may face. With this information, the minute you see traffic that looks out of place, you can react to the issue quicker, avoiding costly downtime.

Be Ready
The unpredictable nature of DDoS attacks leave many IT administrators unprepared. Identify your critical systems and take action to protect them from being compromised. There is definitely a reason why you are under attack, but it's extremely difficult to know what that reason is. Even if you are facing dire circumstances, it is essential that operations are sustained. One way this can be mitigated is by hosting some or all of your organization’s computing infrastructure in the cloud.

If yours is like most small and medium-sized businesses, you can’t afford to accept large chunks of downtime. To ensure your organization is protected, one solution is to call the certified technicians at Macro Systems. We have the knowledge of industry best practices and years of experience warding off cyber criminals.

For more information about how we can help your organization protect itself from web-based threats, call us today at (703) 359-9211.