Today, let’s start by understanding the different types of website attacks. Below is a brief analysis:
Website attacks are generally divided into three categories: ARP spoofing attacks, CC attacks, and DDOS traffic attacks.
1. ARP Spoofing Attack
To initiate an ARP spoofing attack, one must first gain control of a server in the same data center, IP segment, and VLAN as the target website, typically by compromising another server. Once control is obtained, the attacker uses software to disguise the compromised machine as a gateway to deceive the target server. This type of attack often infiltrates code into web pages or intercepts usernames and passwords. It is relatively easy to counteract such threats by notifying the data center to handle the compromised machine.
2. CC Attack
Compared to other types, this attack can be more damaging. Hosting spaces have a parameter known as the IIS connection count. When a website exceeds this connection limit, it results in a “Service Unavailable” error. Attackers exploit this by having compromised machines continuously send requests to the target site, exceeding the IIS limit, and exhausting CPU or bandwidth resources, causing the site to crash. For attacks reaching hundreds of megabits, even firewalls struggle, sometimes causing firewall CPU resource depletion and crashes. Attacks exceeding this level might lead providers to block the attacked IP at the upper-level routing.
To counter CC attacks, companies generally rent servers with high protection dedicated to CC attacks, utilizing security strategy libraries and AI systems for real-time learning. They identify malicious requests within 5 seconds and block attacks within 10 seconds, providing prevention, tracing, and comprehensive security measures. Alternatively, one can employ high-protection CDN to block such attacks at the application layer, utilizing threat intelligence libraries, personalized strategy configurations, and request pattern analysis. Human verification techniques further protect when suspicious activity deviates from normal patterns.
3. Traffic Attack
This is essentially a DDOS attack, involving the overwhelming of a server’s bandwidth with large data packets. DDoS attacks often mimic legitimate requests and use botnets, making them among the hardest network attacks to defend against. According to a recent security loss report from the U.S., the economic impact of DDoS attacks has surged to the top.
Defending against traffic attacks necessitates robust hardware firewalls. If facing attacks around 99G in magnitude, a firewall of about 100G capacity is essential. If the extent of the attack is not clear, but there are concerns about business impact, high-protection CDN with multi-node and high-protection nodes could be considered, where fallback nodes are automatically activated if one fails, allowing time to upgrade protection plans.
We will further discuss how to resolve website attacks:
In my opinion, a website being attacked is a common cybersecurity issue, leading to service disruptions and data breaches. Here are some of the most comprehensive solutions:
Take immediate action: Upon detecting an attack, attempt to bring online the server group within the same segment via the internal network to restore normal operations, although this might be a temporary fix.
Consider enhancing the hardware defense peak value of the primary server to ensure stable operation under continued attacks.
Incorporate high-protection CDN to effectively guard against SQL injection, XSS attacks, command/code execution, file inclusion, trojan upload, path traversal, malicious scanning, and other OWASP TOP 10 attacks. Additionally, protect against Slow Headers and Slow Post attacks by monitoring timeout and packet threshold parameters. Apply mandatory static cache lock and update mechanisms to safeguard specific pages, maintaining their accessibility even if the source sites are compromised. In summary, it’s straightforward and trustworthy.
So, how can a website avoid being attacked?
Solution:
Use strong passwords and multi-factor authentication: Ensure strong passwords with letters, numbers, and special characters for your website and related accounts, and regularly update them. Implement multi-factor authentication for enhanced account security, such as SMS verification codes or fingerprint recognition, among the eight key methods to protect your site from malicious attacks.
Timely software and plugin updates: Keep the operating system, content management system (CMS), and other plugins and extensions fully updated. Regular updates fix known loopholes and security issues, preventing attackers from exploiting them.
Regularly backup website data: Regularly backing up your site data is crucial in mitigating the impact of malicious attacks. If an attack or data loss occurs, you can recover the website from these backups and minimize losses.
Use firewalls and intrusion detection systems (IDS): Set up and configure a firewall and IDS to monitor and filter network traffic. These tools can detect and block potential malicious attacks, adding an extra layer of protection.
Defend against DDoS attacks: DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks flood a website with requests to render it unusable. Employ professional DDoS protection service providers to help shield against such attacks, ensuring website stability and availability.
Conduct security audits and vulnerability scans: Regularly perform security audits and vulnerability scans to identify potential weaknesses and security risks in your website. Quickly fix discovered vulnerabilities based on the scan results to ensure the site’s security.
Enhance access control and permission management: Manage access to sensitive data and functions on your site, ensuring only authorized personnel can view or modify this information. Implementing a role-based access control (RBAC) model improves user privilege management.
Boost training and awareness: Enhance employee cybersecurity training and awareness to help them identify and respond to potential threats such as phishing emails, malicious links, and social engineering. Increasing staff awareness substantially reduces human error and risk of attacks.
In summary, safeguarding your website from malicious attacks requires considering multiple security measures. Use strong passwords and multi-factor authentication to secure accounts, update software and plugins timely to patch vulnerabilities, back up data regularly to mitigate loss, use firewall and IDS to monitor and filter traffic, deploy professional DDoS protection services to counter large-scale attacks, perform audits and scans to promptly patch vulnerabilities, reinforce access control and permission management to protect sensitive data, and boost employee cybersecurity awareness.
Most importantly, website security demands constant attention and updates. As technology advances and threats evolve, attackers continually seek new methods to target sites. Thus, collaborating with professional security service providers is crucial. By heeding professional guidance, employing various security measures, and keeping pace with evolving threats, you can effectively protect your website from malicious attacks.