Two DDoS Attacks: Two Very Different Experiences

We have written quite a bit in the past about the importance of DDoS protection – especially for today’s financial institutions. Underground hacking networks seem to be the first ones to get wind of an upcoming attack on a financial website, but the hacktivists never keep their plans a secret. They boldly announce when and why they are making attacks and, until recently, the financial institutions seemed to just roll with the punches. Many wondered why the banks weren’t doing more to protect their websites. After all, customers rely heavily on mobile banking solutions. Shouldn’t website uptime be a priority for each and every financial institution that takes customer service seriously? It seems that some banks are finally starting to get the message.

DDoS Protection and Mitigation Services are Being Put into Place

Recent research was released showing that DDoS protection is indeed being put into place by some financial institutions. However, the research also showed that not all DDoS protection is created equal. While the names of the financial institutions were not released, both institutions were the victims of a DDoS attack that occurred at the same time.

The research showed that there was a significant difference in the availability of the websites during the attack, even though both sites had DDoS protection in place. One site was able to maintain consistent uptime throughout the attack, with maximum load times of 15 seconds. The other site, which also had protection, suffered three occurrences of website downtime during the attack and maximum load times of fifty seconds or more when the site was up and running.

What Lesson Can Be Learned?

So what lesson is there to be learned from studying the different effects that the DDoS attack had on the two different financial websites? We have explained that not all website monitoring services are created equal. It appears that neither are all DDoS protection services. If you truly want to maximize your website uptime and protect your site from DDoS attacks, you need to utilize a service that has advanced protection and can ensure your site’s consistent availability as well as page load times. Alertra can verify if your site remains available or if it encounters performance issues, so you’ll know if you’re getting what you’re paying for should your site come under a DDoS attack. In the meantime, it’s important that you get that DDoS protection into place if your site is at risk of becoming the target of a DDoS attack.