DDoS Attack on Your Business: Essential Steps to Respond and Protect!

DDoS attacks can immobilize an online service by overwhelming its resources. However, preventative measures and swift responses can mitigate their impact.

DDoS attacks have become a common threat to online services. They involve flooding a website or server with excessive traffic to make it inaccessible. Growing in frequency and severity, these attacks can cripple an organization within minutes. Learn how to respond if your organization faces such an attack.

Understanding DDoS Attacks

A DDoS, or Distributed Denial of Service attack, overwhelms an online service with a huge volume of requests from numerous distributed sources across the internet. The goal is to make the service unavailable to legitimate users by saturating bandwidth, system resources, or web applications. Unlike a conventional DoS attack that originates from a single machine, a DDoS attack typically utilizes a network of compromised computers—a botnet—to enhance its disruptive power.

There are various types of DDoS attacks, often combined to maximize their effectiveness:

• Volumetric attacks: These aim to flood the target system’s bandwidth with massive amounts of traffic.
• Protocol attacks: These exploit weaknesses in network protocols (such as TCP, UDP, or ICMP) to deplete the resources of intermediate equipment (e.g., firewalls, servers).
• Application layer attacks: These target web applications by mimicking legitimate user behavior on a large scale to drain server resources.

These attacks can be motivated by sabotage, revenge, activism, or ransom demands (ransomware). Their frequency is rising due to the ease of access to automated tools or “turnkey” DDoS attack services available on the dark web. In the first half of 2025, Cloudflare reported blocking 20.5 million DDoS attacks, marking a 358% increase year-over-year and a 198% increase from the previous quarter.

How to Prevent DDoS Attacks

According to cybermalveillance.gouv.fr, four simple measures can reduce the risk of a DDoS attack:

1. Update your systems and software: Security patches close vulnerabilities that attackers frequently exploit.
2. Properly configure your firewall: Close unnecessary ports and restrict access to administration interfaces to essential addresses only.
3. Strengthen password management: Use complex passwords, change them regularly, and immediately replace any default passwords if not altered right away.
4. Check your host’s capabilities: Ensure they have a DDoS mitigation solution and can respond quickly in the event of an attack.

How to Respond to a DDoS Attack

If your organization falls victim to a DDoS attack, here are the recommended actions by cybermalveillance.gouv.fr:

• Never pay the ransom: Submitting to the threat does not guarantee service restoration and only encourages illegal practices.
• Filter out malicious traffic: Block suspicious requests via your firewall or ask your host to do so at their level.
• Preserve evidence: Make or have a complete copy of the attacked system made, retrieve connection logs (logs) and any elements that can help understand the attack or serve as evidence in court.
• Assess the damage: Ensure that attackers have not used the opportunity to infiltrate the system, steal data, or install malware. A complete antivirus analysis and careful review of system logs are crucial.
• Change all suspicious passwords: At the first sign of doubt, change access to affected servers and, if necessary, reinstall systems from clean backups.
• Seek professional help: In case of difficulty or doubt, get support from experts listed on cybermalveillance.gouv.fr.
• File a complaint: Report to the police, gendarmerie, or public prosecutor with all available evidence.
• Notify the CNIL if personal data has been exposed: If there is a breach involving personal data, notifying the CNIL—and possibly the affected individuals—may be mandatory. Prepare a detailed file on the nature and scope of the breach.

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Jordan Park

Jordan Park writes in-depth reviews and editorial opinion pieces for Touch Reviews. With a background in UI/UX design, Jordan offers a unique perspective on device usability and user experience across smartphones, tablets, and mobile software.