DDoS Attack Prevention for SMBs

Increase Awareness

Knowing the signs of an attack is key to preventing one. A main symptom of a DDoS attack is a surge in traffic. Knowing normal traffic patterns can help in identifying abnormal incoming traffic. Also be on the look out for other signs of unusual activity originating from a single IP address. Other symptoms are spotty connectivity, slow performance, and outages. If your systems crash – that’s a big warning sign. Increase awareness in these attack signs in order to build a resilient infrastructure and know when to implement your response plan.

Build a Resilient Infrastructure

The first line of defense are always firewalls and anti-virus software. There are other programs that can help secure infrastrures as well, but these are the starting points. Hardening IT infrastructure with the provided settings is a must too. Moving to the cloud can definitely help as it has more bandwidth. Increasing bandwidth won’t stop a DDoS attack, but it will help businesses continue to function even if they find themselves a victim of one because it will give SMBs the chance to keep customer traffic going as long as possible. Using multiple servers is also a huge help in keeping companies operational as well.

Monitor Networks

Conducting regular security assessments is necessary for discovering any weaknesses in current networks. Performing vulnerability testing every 3-6 months will help small businesses patch trouble spots before they can be exploited by hackers. Doing a network analysis will help avoid any bottleneck areas that can cause issues in the future. Make sure to monitor performance, configuration, connection availability, and endpoints to ensure the networks are safe. Attackers look for gaps in cybersecurity to take advantage of so it’s important to make sure they have no point of entry into networks. Cyber attacks of all kinds can happen anytime and it’s essential for SMBs to monitor their networks periodically to help prevent them.

Have a Response Plan

A healthy response plan should include identifying the attack and shutting it down if possible, as well as mitigations from HR, and starting the recovery process. Start with assigning a trained team for this plan in action and a checklist of everything that needs to be done if an attack is suspected. IT professionals should be focused on identifying the source of the attack and the amount of damage done as well as repairing the network and infrastructure. HR professionals should focus on communication with employees, stakeholders, customers, and vendors in order to stop the spread of panic and be specific about what information gets out to the public. The response plan will tie directly into the Business Continuity Plan.