What is a DDoS Attack?
In DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) attacks, hackers gain control of hundreds or thousands of computers and unleash these machines on a company, flooding its servers with so many requests that they become overloaded and fail. Increasingly, these pirated devices are not computers, but could be any smart device: from phones to thermostats to light bulbs.
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FAST FACTS ABOUT DDoS ATTACKS
Largest DDoS Attack
This attack set the record for the largest attack mitigated by Akamai.
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UDP fragment floods are used in nearly a third of all DDoS attacks.
More DDoS ActivityCost per company per year
Customer-facing revenue losses exceed costs in each of four other areas.
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How DDoS Attacks Work
DDoS attacks work by harnessing the power of other devices to send unwanted traffic to the target.
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Why DDoS
Attackers and malicious actor groups have a variety of different reasons for launching DDoS attacks. Whether the goal is to compromise brand trust or gain a competitive advantage, the end result of a DDoS attack can be catastrophic for an organization.
Learn MorePreventing and Stopping DDoS Attacks
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Can I Prevent DDoS Attacks?
With a DDoS protection plan and runbook, you can prevent damage from DDoS attacks.
A CDN-based DDoS protection service can prevent malicious traffic from reaching your website or API.
A DDoS scrubbing service can quickly mitigate attacks that target non-web infrastructure.
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Zero-second DDoS Mitigation SLA
Learn about proactive mitigation controls and how they provide zero-second DDoS mitigation backed by Akamai’s industry-leading SLA.
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The State of the Internet / Security Report
Check out emerging trends, attack statistics, and market changes related to the security landscape.
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Nine Myths About DDoS Protection
There are a lot of myths about DDoS protection floating around — some are even encouraged by security vendors. Discover what organizations need to know to avoid a vulnerable DDoS defense strategy.
Download NowDDoS Protection Products
The Smartest Protection Against DDoS Attacks
Cloud-Based Protection for DDoS Attacks
During a DDoS attack, network pipes can be overwhelmed, rendering useless on-premise DDoS mitigation hardware. That’s why businesses are moving to cloud-based security, which has greater scale and capacity for DDoS protection.
Learn More About Akamai Cloud SecurityAkamai Prolexic Solutions
Prolexic solutions provide fully managed DDoS protection for your applications, data centers, and network infrastructure. With Prolexic DDoS protection in place, your services will remain available and responsive during a broad range of attacks, including high-bandwidth and shifting-vector attacks.
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DDoS News
Defense By Design: How To Dampen DDoS Attacks With A Resilient Network
DDoS attacks cripple targets while commandeering massive resources across the Internet. Learn how Eugene Spafford, executive director emeritus at Purdue University, developed effective defenses against DDoS attacks by architecting a resilient network.
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2018 DDoS and Web Application Attack Stats / Asia Pacific
Organizations share their DDoS experiences, including costs, hours of downtime, mitigation technologies, top consequences, and barriers to DDoS protection.
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Understanding DDoS Reflection — Memcached UDP
Hear from Akamai’s Renny Shen on why and how organizations need to prepare for DDoS attacks using UDP reflection.
Watch the VideoAdditional DDoS Resources
Making a DDoS Protection Plan – 8 Best Practices
DDoS attackers launch hundreds of DDoS attacks every day. When a DDoS attack strikes an organization, panic is common. This white paper explores best practices for building and maintaining a DDoS protection plan.
Download the PaperChecklist: 8 Best DDoS Mitigation Practices
Having a DDoS mitigation plan in place can make the difference between organization-wide chaos and an orderly and timely DDoS response. This checklist outlines the eight steps organization can take to prepare for a DDoS attack.
Download the ChecklistPonemon Institute: Trends in the Cost of Web Application and Denial of Service Attacks
Understanding the prevalence and costs associated with web applications and denial of service attacks is crucial for organizations. Based on surveys of more than 600 IT professionals, discover typical attack costs and other cloud security trends.
Read the ReportMemcached Reflection Attacks: A New Era for DDoS
On February 28, 2018, the largest DDoS attack recorded to date targeted an Akamai customer with a recording setting 1.3 Tbps of Memcached reflection DDoS traffic. Learn about Memcached DDoS, the importance of DDoS mitigation planning, and how Akamai is architected for DDoS resilience.
Download the ReportHow the Mirai Botnet is Fueling Today’s Largest and Most Crippling DDoS Attacks
The largest DDoS attacks have continued to increase greatly in strength and doubling in attack size and among the largest recent years was in 2016 using the Mirai Botnet. Learn about Mirai, the rise of IoT botnets, and the resilience of the Akamai Intelligent Edge Platform.
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