Every server has a limit, and your website can only handle so many simultaneous visits before its server begins to buckle under pressure. This, in a nutshell, is how a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack works. Considering how common they are, setting up WordPress DDoS protection is a smart move.
There are a lot of ways you can mitigate the effects of DDoS attacks on your website. Blocking suspicious IPs is a great start, and so is investing DDoS protection services. Securing your website against DDoS attacks from the get-go can save you a lot of time and headaches down the road.
In this article, we’re going to go over the threat of DDoS attacks by the numbers. Then we’ll discuss five WordPress DDoS protection methods.
Let’s get to it!
Why your website might need DDoS protection
DDoS attacks are much more frequent than you might think. In the first half of 2019, DDoS attacks increased by 39 percent in comparison to 2018, which itself saw millions of attacks. Their potency is also increasing dramatically, with attacks of over 500 gigabytes per second (Gbps) becoming more and more common.
The targets for these attacks aren’t only large websites. Even smaller sites can be affected by attackers seeking to collect a ransom. This makes WordPress DDoS protection almost a necessity, more than a precaution.
Five methods to secure your WordPress site against DDoS attacks
DDoS attacks may be scary, but there are a lot of ways you can set up WordPress DDoS protection.
If you’re proactive, you may never find yourself in a position where a DDoS attack takes down your website. Let’s take a look at five different methods.
1. Use a content delivery network (CDN)
CDNs are services that cache copies of your website on their data centers. The most popular CDNs offer data centers around the world and they act as a middleman between you and your site’s visitors.
Whenever possible, your CDN will serve a cached copy of your site from its servers, which translates to less strain on yours. What’s more, CDNs can also help you decrease overall loading times because they’re built with performance in mind.
CDNs act as a sort of firebreak to DDoS attacks by preventing the resultant traffic from overwhelming your website. They can detect anomalous patterns in traffic, and if things are scaling too fast, can act to mitigate the attack.
Some CDNs, like Cloudflare, also act as a reverse proxy which can further protect your WordPress site from DDoS attacks.
Who should consider using a CDN:
Most websites can benefit from integrating a CDN to improve their performance. It shouldn’t come as a surprise many of them are premium services, though. The good news is there are several great free CDN options, and most of them integrate easily with WordPress.
2. Sign up for a dedicated DDoS protection service
While most CDNs offer DDoS protection as a sort of extra, there are other services with entire
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This article was written by John Hughes and originally published on ThemeIsle Blog.