How to Protect Your Business from DDoS Attacks

DDoS protection basically refers to a succession of actions that endeavor to protect the network against potential DDoS attacks. Many people ask why it is important to have the network protected against DDoS attacks. This is a common question because most people are not aware of the risks and possible damages associated with DDoS attacks. DDoS protection plans can only be appreciated by people who are conscious of the destruction caused by such attacks.

Essentially, DDoS (Distributed Denial-of-Service) attacks target a network by overwhelming it with traffic from numerous sources, making the entire network unavailable; effectively rendering it unusable. That is of course the worst case scenario. DDoS attacks of less intensity are capable of slowing down the processing capacity of a router and even other resources related to the network stack due to the significantly increased load on it.

One of the oldest manners of DDOS attacks is the sending a huge amount of e-mails to a single receiver. This process basically reduces the storage capacity by filling up a huge amount of space. This approach is a very typical one yet continues to persist, albeit rarely.

DDoS attacks do not merely fill up your storage space; they cause a lot more damage than you can fathom. DDoS attacks usually break a huge number of machines and systems in the World Wide Web. As a result of which, there is a bandwidth fatigue or collapse. The most frequent targets of the DDOS attacks consist of the Internet, File Sharing websites, services providers, and even Domain Names Services. There is also a trend that has been noticed by DDoS experts and it suggests that DDOS attacks typically happen during periods of high sales. Not only does this trend threaten to attack business authorities but the consumers of a business as well.

Even though these problems can be highly destructive, effective solutions do exist. They can be resolved tactically and rationally through DDOS protection systems. DDoS protection systems can help in resolving accessibility problems. The best bet is still to take preventive measures beforehand, because at times, the damage caused from a DDoS attack may be irreversible, as a result of which, businesses can end up losing important information.

Managed DDoS Protection Services are an ideal answer to all the problems related to DDoS attacks. They do not merely resolve complications related to DDoS attacks but they also guard the business systems and networks against potential DDoS attacks. They serve as a wise investment to guarantee maximum productivity of an enterprise.

Most Managed DDoS Protection service providers offer a service that fundamentally adds a virtual barrier between all the outside sources and the web servers of their clients, which helps in keeping out all malicious and threatening traffic. Normally, their services monitor all the incoming traffic to a business’ system or website, and in case malicious data is received, it is flagged and sent to the service provider’s system and the client’s system or website remains protected. Safe traffic is not affected.

In case you want to avail Managed DDoS Protection Services, do check out our services here.

How Are You Shielding Your Business Against the Threats Related to Web Applications?

Web applications have been in trend for a while now and they keep on advancing. They have perhaps penetrated all the crucial segments of our daily lives that include our corporate and business world as well. Business applications related to accounting, customer relationship Management, collaboration, Enterprise Resource Management, online banking, content management, E-commerce are now all made available on the Internet. Web Applications have played a vital role in increasing speed and accessibility to all kinds of business information for an enterprise’s clients, partners and employees. They have also assisted in allowing savings. Today, not only have most things shifted to the web but almost all of them host a business’ most sensitive and valuable data.

Cyber criminal activity and intrusions are also very common these days and therefore, web applications frequently get attacked. The reason behind these attacks is that web applications are practically everywhere, and if not secured properly, they offer a very simple entry into the most sensitive and profitable information chambers of a company.

According to a study, 73 percent of companies get hacked in the duration of 24 months, simply because of flaws in their web applications security plans. The prime reason behind the security gap is that most of the enterprises that have now shifted to cloud environment and are using web applications, still rely on the security of conventional network firewalls and anti malware software in order to guard their data.

1. ADVANCEMENTS BRING NEW VULNERABILITIES

As the requirements of a business expand, they build new web applications in order to meet their special needs. High demands like these end up creating high-pressure situations for developers and programmers, particularly when it engages the development of boundless improvements and brand new functionalities.

If a company does not have proper and secure development practices for software, putting in just the tiniest features on web applications can end up leading to inconceivable vulnerabilities. In addition to these, factors like flaws in logics, backup files that are forgotten, code debugging, and other expansion and production linked vulnerabilities are a customary challenge to web application security in the corporate world.

2. SECURING WEB APPLICATIONS

There are numerous instances of Web application attacks that actually have nothing to do with logic or coding errors. A lot of times, web application threats come from protocol, language, or the platforms that are used to deliver these web applications. All these things can be put into the category of the web applications’ environment.

One of the biggest reasons behind the fact that most web application attacks are successful these days is that the attackers and intruders usually come in a way that is similar to the way in which any legitimate user would come in. They make sure that they are not disturbing any of the RFC’s or W3C’s standards.

Managed Security Services Providers

Solutions to counter security threats when it comes to web applications can be numerous and comprehensive. But with one simple step, they can all be easily avoided without a hassle. This simple one stop solution is acquiring the services of a managed security services provider.

Managed security services providers can provide the following solutions collectively, offering the following services:

1. They offer risk mitigation to make sure that all threats are stopped before they turn into full-blown emergencies.
2. They also offer enhanced network visibility with round-the-clock monitoring.
3. They provide improved network performance, utilization, and uptime In order to allow businesses to make the most of their efficacy.
4. They also provide flexibility in expanding Information Technology resources for strategic projects.
5. They present effortlessness in the management of networks to let business owners dedicate their consideration to matters that are comparatively more urgent.
6. With them, you will have to pay reduced expenses for your network’s maintenance for better outcomes.
7. They will give you a proactive and practical approach to the resolution of issues related to your system.

Picking an experienced and trustworthy Managed Security Services Provider will keep you from fretting about the security of your company’s web applications.

Are you looking for a reliable Managed Security Services Provider for your business? We offer solutions that include secure Managed Cloud hosting platform, managed Web Application Firewall service, Managed Web Application security testing service and DDoS protection.

Why you Need DDoS Protection?

Distributed Denial of Service or DDoS attacks are carried out on websites, especially ecommerce sites, overwhelming the system and taking control of the website. A hacker can use this method to deny the rightful user access to their website. They can gain access to your site and wreak havoc on the system.

Hackers can expose the vulnerabilities in your system and use them to cause financial harm. DDoS attacks are among the most deadly online attacks and can potentially damage your site forever. By utilizing our DDoS protection, you can protect your websites and web applications from DDoS attacks.

Types of DDoS Attacks

In the past, DDoS attacks used to be one dimensional. They used to overwhelm the connection and force the site owner to take their website offline or suffer the consequence. But, as online security evolved, so did the hackers. They have started using new techniques and tools to carry out DDoS attacks. Now there are three wide categories of DDoS attacks:

1. Volumetric Attacks: This DDoS attack is carried out to cause congestion and consume the bandwidth of the ‘victim’ network or site.
2. Application-Layer Attacks: These attacks are carried out on Layer-7 and are thought to be the most dangerous type of DDoS attack.
3. State-Exhaustion Attacks: This attack is an attempt to consume the connection state tables, which are present in many infrastructure components such as load-balancers, firewalls, etc.

Need of DDoS Protection

Our managed DDoS protection service can offer protection from all three types of DDoS attacks mentioned above. A service like ours serves as a barrier between your site and the internet. We monitor all of the traffic that comes into your site and we scan for potential threats and attacking traffic. When such a threat is identified, we send it away, protecting your site or ecommerce store.

DDoS attacks not only threaten your site and your data, they also cause you to lose any customer data you have stored. This could cause you to lose valuable customers, and eventually it can lead to loss of revenues and the brand’s unpopularity. DDoS protection service, like Lean Security's, can help you to prevent attacks such as these, so you can focus on your business and it can prosper.

Amazon AWS Security Risks

Amazon AWS provides a great opportunity for the companies to reduce the costs in their IT infrastructure and increase the speed they can release their products to the market. Amazon AWS contains a large number of resources, such as Infrastructure-as-a-Service (called EC2), file storage (S3 buckets), Database-as-a-service (RDS) and many others. The number is growing every day and the value increases significantly. Almost all startups and companies now consider Amazon AWS to host their IT infrastructure.

To make an appropriate decision to use Amazon AWS cloud or not the companies need to fully understand the risks introduced by using this technology. The risks landscape is very different from traditional IT infrastructure, when all the critical system and applications are located behind the corporate firewall in internal network. Now the infrastructure located in the Cloud and requires different protection.

Below are the common risks introduced by the adopting Amazon AWS Cloud:

1. Unauthorised access to the Cloud Management Console.

   Description: The administrator or Amazon AWS Account owner has full control over the cloud resources. He or she can delete all the servers just by clicking the button. If the administrator is not fully understand the technical background, he or she can open the firewall rules to allow all the traffic going in and out of Amazon AWS account. The hackers can potentially brute force / guess/ steal the password and connect to the console. If a hacker gets control over the account, the availability and integrity of the systems can be affected.

   Risk: High
   Likelihood: High (by default the account is protected by only password)
   Impact: High (all the servers can be affected)

   Mitigation controls: Amazon AWS can provide additional protection for an Amazon AWS account: two factor authentication. The administrator can use their mobile phone with Google Authenticator installed to increase the security of the account. Two factor authentication is not enabled by default and requires additional configuration.

2. Poor access management process.

   Description: The Amazon AWS Management console is available from anywhere in the world. Obviously it provide a great flexibility for the users, but also presents a huge risk. If a company doesn’t have strong access management process, the terminated employee will probably still have access to the console. He or she will be able to connect from home, internet café or even competitor. Many companies have Identity and Access Management (IAM) system implemented for their internal systems, but Amazon AWS console not always integrated with it.

   Risk: High
   Likelihood: Almost certain (if a company has a large number of users)
   Impact: High (terminated users may cause significant damage)

   Mitigation controls: The companies need to review the users on the regular basis. It may be difficult the one company has multiple Amazon AWS accounts as Amazon doesn’t provide centralised console at this stage. Another option is to integrate Amazon AWS with IAM system or Active Directory, but it requires significant investment.

3. Weak firewall rules.

   Description: By default, when you create an Amazon EC2 instance the Amazon will propose the default firewall rules (Amazon calls them the “security groups”) to access the instance. For Linus based instances it will be port 22 (secure shell) and probably ports 80 and 443 for the web server. For Windows instances they will be port 3389 (Remote Desktop) and ports 80 and 443 for the web application. By default, all internet will have access to this ports (source is 0.0.0.0/0). The hackers will probably try to brute force the password for SSH or RDP or use known exploit to get in.

   Risk: Medium
   Likelihood: Almost certain (not many people change the default rule set)
   Impact: Medium (the SSH access by default is configured to use private/public key and Windows password is relatively strong)

   Mitigation controls: The administrators or security professionals need to constantly audit the firewall rules to make sure the remote access is configured for particular source IP addresses. The IP restriction will reduce the risk of compromise significantly.

The above risks are just an example of what the companies should look at when adopting Amazon AWS cloud. The internal security department or systems administrators should perform the comprehensive security assessment of the environment before putting critical application into the cloud. If a company doesn’t have necessary skills to do it “in-house”, Cloud Guardian will help. Cloud Guardian staff will perform the risks assessment of your environment, propose the best mitigation controls and integrate them with our monitoring system to make sure your environment is safe. Moreover, we’ll help you to secure all your Amazon AWS accounts from single interface. Contact us for more details.

Enjoy AWS Security like Never Before

If you want to secure your Amazon AWS accounts, Cloud Guarding is where your search ends. As a unique tool performing Amazon AWS risks assessment, Cloud guardian not only monitors changes across multiple Amazon AWS accounts but also manages multiple Amazon AWS accounts.
This way Cloud Guardian allows users to have absolute control over who is granted or denied access to their Amazon AWS accounts. Cloud Guardian also facilitates the security groups by ensuring that they are configured properly and ensures that all instances of a cloud are well protected.