Responding to DDoS Attacks: 7 Key Steps for Protection

In today's hyperconnected world, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks are no longer rare incidents. Cybercriminals use increasingly sophisticated techniques to disrupt businesses, damage reputations, and compromise critical online services. The stakes have never been higher.

So, what should you do if you find yourself under attack? Here are seven key steps for responding to a DDoS attack and protecting your organization against these growing threats.

The Rising Threat of DDoS Attacks

DDoS attacks occur when malicious actors flood a network with traffic, overwhelming its resources and rendering its services unavailable. These attacks are sometimes used for extortion; that is, attackers demand a ransom in exchange for stopping the flood of malicious traffic. In some cases, attackers use DDoS as a smokescreen to launch even more malicious activities, such as data breaches or malware deployments.

Although DDoS attacks have been around for years, they've recently grown in both size and complexity. There was a nearly 50% increase in the number of large DDoS attacks between 2021 and 2023, and 2024 is on track to break this record yet again. Today, DDoS as a service offerings make it easier for any would-be attacker to deploy these disruptive assaults. And for many organizations, traditional mitigation techniques are no longer enough to stop the deluge.

7 Steps to Take During a DDoS Attack

Here are seven key actions you can take to mitigate the damage and secure your infrastructure.

1. Assess Your Risk and Current Defenses

Begin by evaluating your current DDoS mitigation capabilities. Are your existing defenses sufficient to handle the size and scope of the attack? Engage your DDoS mitigation provider to assess the ongoing threat and respond quickly to any vulnerabilities.

2. Review Your Critical IP Spaces and Subnets

Ensure that your most vital network resources, including critical subnets and IP spaces, are protected by mitigation controls. This will help to limit the areas of your infrastructure that can be compromised by the attack.

3. Activate Always-On DDoS Security Controls

Deploy always-on security controls as a first layer of defense. This proactive approach minimizes the burden on incident responders and reduces the risk of emergency integration scenarios during a crisis.

4. Implement an Edge-Based Cloud Firewall

Expand your defenses beyond traditional DDoS protection by deploying an edge-based cloud firewall. This additional layer of security helps to block malicious traffic before it even reaches your network, reducing the load on your internal firewalls and systems.

5. Protect Your DNS Infrastructure

Domain Name System (DNS) attacks are a common and highly effective method of disrupting services. Use a robust DNS solution to protect against DNS-focused attacks, and deploy a dynamic proxy to safeguard on-premises or hybrid DNS infrastructures.

6. Activate Your Incident Response Plan

Ensure that your incident response plan is up-to-date and activated. This plan should include a crisis response team with clearly defined roles, communication channels, and predefined strategies for mitigating the attack. Having a well-rehearsed playbook is key to maintaining calm and responding efficiently during a crisis.

7. Extend Your Protection to Application and API Layers

Many DDoS attacks target applications and APIs, making it essential to secure these components as well.

Why the Human Element Matters

Modern DDoS attacks can easily (and often) overwhelm DDoS defense technologies that rely solely on automated mitigation. Smart hackers probe such automated defense mechanisms to detect and abuse flaws and vulnerabilities. The evolution of DDoS threats is no longer focused on increasing attack volume and bandwidth, but on the sophistication of the attack methods and refinement of the tactics.

That is why combining platforms, people, and processes is critical. The human factor is essential for navigating complex, evolving attacks that automated systems alone might not fully address.

Conclusion

DDoS attacks are growing in size and sophistication, and no organization is immune. But with the right defense strategy, you can protect your network, your services, and your reputation. Therefore, adopting platforms that are designed for complete flexibility, with the option to deploy always-on or on-demand protection and which also integrates easily with hybrid environments, ensures that your data centers, cloud infrastructure, and internet-facing services are secure from even the most sophisticated threats.

(The author is Sven H. Dummer, Global Director of Product Marketing and Sandeep Rath, Senior Product Marketing Executive at Akamai, and the views expressed in this article are his own)