A Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attack is something that makes even the hardiest of webmasters and administrators cringe. A DDOS attack, when done correctly, can bring a website to its knees, costing precious pageviews and ad revenue. DDOS attacks are becoming more advanced, and so the smart webmaster will seek to mitigate the damages such an attack can cause.
When searching for a potential web host, one thing you’ll want to look into is whether or not they offer DDOS protection services, and whether or not the service is included in your hosting package, or if it’ll cost extra.
Even if there is an extra cost involved. it’s well worth it to have the extra layer of protection that a DDOS plan typically offers.
Companies such as Staminus offer DDOS hosting solutions as part of plans that start at $20 per month, according to prices listed as of the time this article was published. Websites with larger budgets can go with services offered by companies such as Liquid Web, where DDOS protection is available at costs that start at $500 per month.
There are numerous companies that offer DDOS protection. Research is the best tool for finding the best fit for you and your website. Some things you’ll want to consider in a DDOS protection plan are:
- Is DDOS protection included in the hosting plan’s cost, as seems to be the case in CloudFlare’s business plans, according to their website?
- If not, is the protection based on the size of the attack, or is it a flat fee?
- Does the protection automatically activate, or is an extra step required, such as toggling a setting in a control panel?
- Is there support available if the attack is not being mitigated?
Sometimes, DDOS attacks aren’t aimed at one specific site, but at a whole network, and they cause problems that sometimes grow to a continental scale. One question you’ll want to ask a potential web host is how their DDOS protection works when an attack is aimed at their entire network.
While you should absolutely look for DDOS protection plans, you should also take action on your own. Technical articles such as this give in-depth advice as to what settings to reconfigure in an effort to lessen the impact a DDOS attack would have on your site.
Another course of action you can take is to ignore the issue of DDOS attacks and just leave it to luck. Here’s what could happen if you adopt such an attitude:
- Your website could slow down during an attack
- Your website could be completely inaccessible during an attack
- Other services, such as e-mail, could be affected, which could cause disruptions in your business operations
As you can see, ignoring the issue isn’t a good way to go. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you should be aware that DDOS attacks do happen, and a DDOS protection plan will not prevent them from happening to you. Such a plan will simply eliminate, or at the very least mitigate, the results of a DDOS attack.
By doing research and choosing the plan that’s right for you, you’ll be able to find a plan that protects your website at the level you need, ensuring that your services will be impacted as little as possible in the event of an attack.
I also recommend going with a hosting provider that has DDOS protection built in to their network infrastructure, one company which comes to mind is HostUpon who have specific Cisco hardware in place across their hosting network. Do your research and I’m sure you’ll find a web host that can protect your website.
