Published: 03.09.2026
A DDoS attack floods a website or a server with requests until real visitors cannot get in. You cannot prevent every attack, but a layered approach makes the damage small.
Types of attacks
- Volumetric: huge amounts of traffic that fill the network channel.
- Protocol: abuse of connection mechanisms, such as SYN floods.
- Application layer: many legitimate-looking requests to heavy pages, such as search or login.
Protection layers
- Network filtering at the provider. Choose a data centre with built-in mitigation for large floods.
- A reverse proxy or CDN. It hides the real server address and absorbs traffic.
- A web application firewall (WAF). Blocks malicious patterns and known bots.
- Rate limiting. Limit the number of requests per address to login pages, search and APIs.
- Caching. Static pages and cached responses cost almost nothing to serve.
- Server tuning. Reasonable connection limits and timeouts in the web server.
Preparation
- Keep the real origin address private and allow connections only from the proxy.
- Have monitoring that alerts you when load grows suddenly.
- Write an incident plan with the contacts of the provider.
- Keep the DNS TTL low so that you can switch quickly.
During an attack
- Confirm that it is an attack and not a popular post or a campaign.
- Contact the provider support with the time and the type of traffic.
- Enable the stricter protection mode of the proxy.
- Block abusive ranges and countries only if they do not belong to your customers.
Frequently asked questions
Can a small site be attacked? Yes, attacks are often cheap and automated.
Is a bigger server a defence? It helps with small attacks, but only filtering helps against large ones.
