What DDoS attack means for your website and its impact

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The Broad Impact of DDoS: It’s More Than Just an IT Issue!
Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks can bring websites down and display the
dreaded“404 Page Not Available” error message. When that happens, everyone thinks it is the
IT department’s problem, but that is a narrow, dangerous view.
The damage from a DDoS attack on an online business or organization goes far beyond IT.
Unfortunately, many business leaders do not realize that denial of service attacks are a serious
threat to the entire enterprise; one that can result in lost revenue, dissatisfied customers,
negative press coverage and even lower stock prices.
Depending on the type of DDoS attack and the targeted IT network elements, a DDoS attack
can also disrupt email systems, call centers, VoIP networks and accessibility to information that
customers and other users need 24/7. For e-Commerce sites, it can also disrupt revenue flow
when shopping carts are inaccessible.
Therefore, when a DDoS attack hits, it should not be left to the IT department alone to deal with
the fallout. Other departments have important roles too, and need to be prepared to take action.
DDoS is an enterprise problem that has become more prevalent and serious as cyber attackers
become more malicious and sophisticated.
Attackers will target your network’s weaknesses
Different types of DDoS attacks can cause outages in different elements of your network.
Attackers can, and will, deliberately target specific elements that may be weak links in your
network architecture and inflict exactly the kind of damage they want. For example:
• An application (Layer 7) DDoS attack may not disrupt routers, but it can wreak havoc by
penetrating deeply into load balancers, applications and databases.
• A high packet-per-second SYN flood may affect servers and routers.
• A high packet-per-second UDP flood may cause issues with the routers only.
• Content switches are at risk, because they are designed to respond very quickly to user
requests. A botnet can easily overwhelm a switch’s ability to respond to a flood of

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SYNrequests, which causes the switch to fail and makes the application unavailable to
users.
What you can do
Unfortunately, it’s not a matter of if but when a website will be hit by a DDoS attack. All
industries are targets.
In Prolexic’s experience, online organizations that are prepared for denial of service attacks with
a dedicated DDoS mitigation service and a tested, well-rehearsed response plan will experience
the fastest and most successful attack mitigation.
Prolexic recommends that you work with a DDoS mitigation service provider to implement a
simulated DDoS attack – a dry run – to confirm your preparedness. This exercise will expose
management to the challenges that need to be addressed to manage both internal and external
communications when confronted with a DDoS attack.
Minimize the damage to your enterprise
The damage from a DDoS attack can quickly spin out of control. This collateral damage can
only be eradicated when online business leaders recognize the broader impact of DDoS attacks
beyond the IT department.
Download our free white paper
Download The Broad Impact of DDoS: It’s More than Just an IT Issue at www.prolexic.com/impact.
You’ll also read:
Details about a DDoS mitigation playbook and how it can help you ensure a streamlined
response in an emergency
Why a practiced response is necessary to limit the damage from a DDoS attack
Case studies of enterprises under attack.
12 questions to ask when evaluating a DDoS mitigation service provider

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About Prolexic
Prolexic Technologies is the world’s largest, most trusted distributed denial of service (DDoS)
protection and mitigation service provider. Able to absorb the largest and most complex DDoS
attacks ever launched, Prolexic protects and restores within minutes mission-critical Internet-
facing infrastructures for global enterprises and government agencies. Ten of the world’s largest
banks and the leading companies in e-Commerce, SaaS, payment processing, travel,
hospitality, gaming and other industries at risk for DDoS attacks rely on Prolexic for DDoS
protection. Founded in 2003 as the world’s first in-the-cloud DDoS mitigation platform, Prolexic
is headquartered in Hollywood, Florida, and has DDoS scrubbing centers located in the
Americas, Europe and Asia. To learn more about how Prolexic can stop DDoS attacks and
protect your business, please visit www.prolexic.com, call +1 (954) 620 6002 or follow
@Prolexic on Twitter.