How to prevent DDoS attacks and safeguard your business from cyber threats

September 19, 2024

A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack consists of sending a large amount of unsolicited traffic against a network, a server or a website. Its purpose is to saturate the capacity of the attacked system and slow it down, block it or cause it to crash, preventing legitimate users from accessing it.

These attacks can affect the availability, performance and security of digital services, causing financial losses, reputational damage and legal problems. For example, an online store website that is the victim of a denial-of-service attack during the sales period will lose sales and money, and its reputation will be damaged.

DDoS attacks are a growing threat to businesses of all sizes and industries. It is important for businesses to have a plan in place to protect against these attacks.

The motivations for these attacks can be political, economic or ideological, and have been used to interfere with elections, sabotage business activities, compete unfairly or protest against governments or institutions. DDoS attacks can also be part of a cyberwarfare strategy to weaken or destabilize the enemy.

◾ While a DoS (denial-of-service) attack comes from a single source, a DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attack involves multiple coordinated sources, making it more difficult to detect and mitigate.

Consequences of a Distributed Denial-of-Service Attack (DDoS)

The consequences of a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack can be severe and varied. The most common consequences include:

Service interruption: The main objective of a DDoS attack is to interrupt the service of a network, server or website, making it inaccessible to other users. This can have a negative impact on the activity and on the provision and fulfillment of the service.
Loss of revenue: If a website or server is down due to a DDoS attack it can result in a loss of revenue for the company. This can have a significant impact especially for businesses that rely on their online presence to generate revenue, such as an ecommerce store.
Reputational damage: A DDoS attack can have a negative impact on a company's reputation. Customers may lose confidence in the company if its website or server is down for an extended period of time, which can result in decreased sales and customer loyalty.
Recovery costs: After a DDoS attack the affected company will need to invest significant time and resources in recovering the website or server. This may include hiring IT security experts, implementing additional security measures and repairing any damage caused by the attack.

⚠️ In 2016, a well-known case of DDoS attack occurred when a botnet called Mirai, composed of millions of IoT (Internet of Things) devices, launched a massive attack against a company that provided DNS services to widely used websites.

The attack affected more than 100 million users worldwide who were unable to access these services for several hours. The attack also had geopolitical repercussions, as it was suspected to be related to cyberespionage and electoral interference.

How to execute a DDoS attack

A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack relies on the use of networks of multiple infected or compromised devices, called bots, which act as emitters of malicious traffic to flood a server or website.

The attacker infects a large number of devices with malicious software (malware). These devices, such as computers, routers, cell phones, cameras or any other device connected to the Internet, become bots. These bots can be remotely controlled by the attacker through a central server called botmaster, from which he sends the instructions to carry out the attack.
When they receive the order, the bots simultaneously send many requests against their target. The DDoS attack can be carried out in various ways, such as HTTP requests or UDP or ICMP messages, among others. The requests sent by the bots are often larger than usual and contain junk information.
The attack floods the target with a large amount of traffic that it cannot process or respond to at once. This prevents it from functioning and can bring the system down, making it inaccessible to legitimate users.

Cybercriminals also use tactics such as spoofing and amplification to make their attacks more effective.

Spoofing involves modifying the source IP address of malicious traffic so that the target cannot identify or block the real senders.
Amplification consists of using vulnerable services that respond with more data than they receive, thus multiplying the traffic reaching the target.

⚠️ Some examples of services that can be used for attack amplification are DNS (domain name system), NTP (network time protocol), SNMP (simple network management protocol) or SSDP (simple service discovery protocol).

This 'digital echo' allows attackers to generate a much higher volume of traffic than bots could generate on their own.

DDoS attacks are very difficult to detect and mitigate, as they disguise themselves among normal traffic and use different techniques to amplify their impact.

How to protect yourself from DDoS attacks

As we have seen, distributed denial-of-service attacks have the potential to cause damage that threatens business continuity.

A DDoS protection service will provide quick detection of an attack and mitigate the attack by clearing the traffic and allowing only lawful traffic to pass through to the destination, minimizing the consequences of the attack and ensuring the continuity of the customer's business. The best way to protect businesses from this type of attack is to have a specialized DDoS protection service, such as Telefónica Tech's DDoS Protection.

✅ Thanks to the collaboration of Telefónica as ISP, the solution is implemented directly on the data network. It monitors and filters malicious traffic at the carrier level, thus ensuring continuity and quality of service.

In this way, the traffic arrives cleanly to the client, without tunnels or additional redirection configurations.

Telefónica Tech DDoS Protection

Telefónica Tech has configured DDoS Protection as a comprehensive and robust solution that protects companies from any type of DDoS attack with features such as:

Combines cloud and on-premises protection, allowing to adapt to the specific needs of each business and ensure the continuity and quality of digital services for all types of DDoS attacks, both volumetric and application.
Separates malicious traffic from legitimate traffic. Unlike other solutions on the market that in case of attack discard all traffic (legitimate and malicious), our DDoS Protection solution is able to clean the traffic allowing the passage of legitimate traffic. It uses AI and advanced algorithms for fast and accurate detection of attacks.
Service mode. The DDoS Protection solution is provided in service mode, with no investment required from the customer. It has a team of experts who offer support, advice and help to configure and manage the service 24/7 and a web space where attack reports and alerts can be consulted in real time.
Non-intrusive solution. Activated on the Customer's dedicated links, it does not involve modifications to the Customer's equipment.
The Operator is able to provide a more effective response. This type of volumetric attacks can saturate any element of the customer's network; therefore, an optimal solution must be integrated into the operator's network. We count on the collaboration of Telefónica which, as an ISP, allows the provision of this service to be more effective.
Benefits from Telefónica Tech's capabilities, technology, and experience.

Whichever specialized DDoS protection service is chosen, it must comply with essential aspects such as:

Broad and flexible coverage that adapts to the specific needs of the business and makes it possible to protect infrastructures, applications and data against any type of DDoS attack, both volumetric and application-layer.
Fast and accurate detection to identify and mitigate attacks as soon as possible, minimizing the impact on business and customer experience.
Effective and coordinated response that integrates different solutions and technologies to provide a multi-channel, multi-layered defense that blocks attacks at the network, perimeter and cloud.
An expert team that provides advice, monitoring and continuous support for any incident.