DDoS Attacks: What Are They and How to Protect Against Them?

DDoS attacks can potentially make websites and other internet-based services and systems unavailable to legitimate traffic for short or longer periods, but the attack is not destructive to the affected systems. Most often, the attack can be remedied quickly and without major consequences, but it is important to be prepared for an attack that may occur in multiple waves, requiring different tools for defense. Read more about the threat from overload attacks in these threat assessments: Those performing DDoS attacks attempt to overwhelm internet-based services and systems so users cannot access them. Additionally, it is advisable to develop – and practice – an emergency response plan. It is important to have a broad understanding of what is internet-based and to conduct a risk assessment covering the entire external attack surface – not just websites. The Danish Emergency Management Agency increasingly sees attacks directed at the underlying server infrastructure, including application servers, APIs, and mail gateways that support the organization’s digital services. For technically interested web server administrators, the agency has also published an article that delves into the specific overload attacks that exploit functions or vulnerabilities in web applications.