What is an HTTP flood attack?

An HTTP flood attack is a form of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack specifically targeting web servers. In this malicious assault, the attacker overwhelms a web server with an enormous volume of HTTP requests, rendering it incapable of handling legitimate user requests. This tactic capitalizes on the stateless nature of the HTTP protocol, allowing for easy forging and amplification of requests. Such attacks can come from a single source or be distributed across multiple locations, making them harder to trace and block. The simplicity of executing these attacks makes them a popular tool among cybercriminals looking to disrupt online services.

How does it work?

Step 1: Request Amplification

HTTP flood attacks exploit the stateless nature of the HTTP protocol, enabling attackers to forge a vast number of seemingly legitimate requests. These requests are often designed to consume server resources disproportionately.

Step 2: Botnet Deployment

Perpetrators commonly utilize botnets, networks of compromised computers, to amplify the scale and impact of the attack. This distributed approach makes it challenging to trace and mitigate the source of the assault.

Step 3: Targeting Specific Vulnerabilities

HTTP flood attacks may exploit vulnerabilities in web server software, operating systems, or specific applications. By pinpointing weaknesses, attackers maximize the efficacy of their assault.

Types of HTTP flood attacks

In the realm of HTTP flood attacks, adversaries deploy a variety of tactics to overwhelm web servers, each with its own distinctive approach.

• GET Floods: GET Floods are a type of HTTP flood attack that targets the HTTP GET method used in web communication. Attackers send a massive number of GET requests to a web server, designed to look like legitimate user interactions, with the aim of overwhelming the server’s resources and capacity to respond. Imagine your website is a popular restaurant, and suddenly, an overwhelming number of customers flood in, each asking for the menu without any intention of placing an order. GET floods operate similarly, bombarding the server with a surge of requests for information, causing chaos and resource exhaustion.

• POST Floods:  POST Floods focus on the HTTP POST method, which is used for sending data to a server. In these attacks, cybercriminals flood the server with numerous POST requests, often containing seemingly valid data submissions. This flood of requests can strain the server’s CPU and memory resources, causing delayed responses or service disruptions. Picture customers storming in and placing orders at an unprecedented rate, without any regard for the kitchen’s capacity. POST floods emulate this scenario by inundating the server with an excessive number of data-submission requests, pushing the server to its limits and potentially causing it to stumble.

Impact of HTTP flood attack

Picture your website as a bustling city during rush hour and an HTTP flood attack as an unexpected surge in traffic causing digital gridlock. This online congestion not only disrupts normal operations but also leads to inevitable downtime and service interruptions as the server contends with an overwhelming influx of requests.

• Downtime and Service Disruption. Think of your website as a bustling city with countless residents seeking information. An HTTP flood attack is like an unexpected traffic jam, bringing the entire city to a standstill. Downtime and service disruption become inevitable as the server struggles to handle the overwhelming surge of requests.
  Suggested article: Understanding the HTTP status codes

• Financial Loss. Just as a shop loses revenue when forced to close unexpectedly, businesses hit by an HTTP flood attack experience financial setbacks. The loss isn’t just in terms of immediate revenue; it’s also about potential future earnings as user trust takes a hit.
• Reputational Damage. Consider the impact on a brand when its flagship store experiences a sudden closure. Similarly, successful HTTP flood attacks can tarnish a website’s reputation, eroding the hard-earned trust of users. Reputational damage extends beyond the immediate attack, affecting long-term relationships with customers.

5 Signs your website is under HTTP flood attack

Early detection of an HTTP flood attack is crucial for effective response. Here are technical indicators that may signal such an attack:

1. Increased HTTP Request Rates: If your web server logs show a sudden and sustained increase in HTTP GET or POST requests, especially from a range of unusual IP addresses, this could indicate an attack. Monitoring tools can be configured to alert administrators to spikes that exceed baseline levels.
2. Increased CPU and Memory Usage: HTTP flood attacks force the server to handle a massive number of requests, leading to unusual CPU and memory consumption. If your server resources are maxing out unexpectedly, this might be a sign of a flood attack.
3. Slow or Non-Responsive Website: A significant HTTP flood attack can slow down your website or make it entirely unresponsive, as the server struggles to handle the load. If your site becomes inaccessible or experiences frequent timeouts, it may be under attack.
4. Log Files Full of Repetitive Requests: When reviewing server logs, you may notice a large volume of similar requests, often with the same IP range, user agent, or request URL. This repetitive pattern is a hallmark of HTTP flood attacks, as attackers often send requests in bursts.
5. Increased Bounce Rate Without Clear Cause: When legitimate users experience a slow or non-responsive website due to an attack, they are more likely to leave. If you see a sudden increase in bounce rate without an obvious reason, an HTTP flood attack may be the culprit.

Preventive measures against HTTP flood attack

Detecting an HTTP flood attack is akin to being the vigilant lifeguard at a crowded beach.

Monitoring service

Just as a lifeguard watches the ocean for irregularities, detecting HTTP flood attacks involves monitoring for abnormal spikes in web traffic. An unexpected surge signals trouble, prompting a swift response to ensure the safety of the online “beach.” With HTTP/HTTPS Monitoring service you will be able to keep track of the performance and availability of websites, web applications, and web services.

Web Application Firewalls (WAFs)

Think of WAFs as the vigilant eye of the lifeguard tower, surveying the digital sea. These firewalls analyze incoming traffic, identifying and blocking any suspicious activity, acting as a proactive defense against potential threats.

DDoS Mitigation Services

There are services specifically designed to protect against DDoS attacks, including HTTP Floods. DDoD Protection services work by diverting traffic through their networks first, filtering out the bad traffic, and only sending the good traffic to your server.

Implement Content Delivery Networks (CDNs)

CDNs distribute your content across multiple, geographically diverse servers, so it’s closer to your users. This not only speeds up content delivery but also means that traffic is spread out and not directed at a single server, making it harder for an HTTP Flood to have an impact. In addition, at ClouDNS you can build your own CDN with our GeoDNS service. With it you can be one layer protected against these malicious attacks. 

How to create your own CDN using DNS

Creating Redundancies

Have a backup plan, or in technical terms, create redundancies. If one server or network component fails under the load, others can take over. This is like having backup generators ready in case the main power supply goes out.

Conclusion

Though HTTP flood attacks present a real and present danger to web servers, the good news is that they are not insurmountable. By staying vigilant, employing a layered security approach, and embracing both reactive and proactive defense strategies, businesses can effectively dampen the impact of these attacks. Ensuring your website’s resilience in the digital ecosystem is key, allowing you to maintain seamless operations and safeguard your digital assets against such disruptive forces.

The post HTTP flood attack – What is it and How to prevent it? appeared first on ClouDNS Blog.

Every media company who wants to be international relies on CDN. Youtube, Amazon, Netflix and many more can’t provide equal service in so many different locations without it. It can deliver quality 4k video without buffering (if the visitors have quality internet too), thereby enhancing the viewer’s experience. The effectiveness of CDN technology in managing and distributing digital content has become a cornerstone for media companies aiming to achieve global reach and maintain high service quality.

The Essence of CDN in Modern Media

CDN stands for Content Delivery Network, a system that delivers content all across the world. Imagine you have a media company that wants to show videos to different countries. You can’t have just your web hosting, because it will get all the traffic and it will get saturated. So much traffic that it can get down. And downtime means losses that you can’t afford. You need something to balance the load on an international level and that secures you 100% uptime so you wouldn’t have any angry customers.

This is where a CDN becomes invaluable, distributing your content through a network of servers located around the globe. This ensures that your content is served from the location nearest to the viewer, dramatically reducing latency and improving the overall viewing experience. Furthermore, CDNs are designed to handle spikes in traffic, ensuring that your media content remains available during peak times. This is particularly crucial for media companies, where even a slight delay can lead to a poor user experience and, ultimately, lost viewership or readership.

GeoDNS: Powering Next-Generation Content Delivery Networks

GeoDNS stands at the forefront of content delivery innovation, offering a streamlined alternative to traditional CDN mechanisms. By leveraging GeoDNS, media companies can build a highly responsive, globally distributed network that intelligently routes content based on the geographic location of the audience. This ensures that users receive data from the nearest server, minimizing latency and maximizing speed.

The sophistication of GeoDNS allows for dynamic content localization, enabling media to tailor experiences to specific markets with unprecedented precision. Furthermore, it facilitates efficient load balancing and traffic management across the network, enhancing overall system resilience and reliability. By adopting GeoDNS, media companies not only optimize their content delivery for speed and efficiency but also gain the flexibility to quickly adapt to changes in viewer demographics and consumption patterns.

Building a Resilient CDN Network with GeoDNS

The Strategic Advantage of GeoDNS for Media Companies

Cost and Efficiency: Creating a CDN through GeoDNS eliminates the need for expensive Anycast networks, making it an affordable solution for media organizations of all sizes. And once you start using the ClouDNS GeoDNS service, your visitors’ queries will pass through our DNS servers – each of which uses our Anycast DNS network, near your customers.

Enhanced User Experience: By serving content from geographically proximate servers, GeoDNS minimizes delays and buffering, crucial for maintaining viewer engagement and satisfaction.

Simplified Management: GeoDNS offers a straightforward way to manage global content delivery without the complexity and overhead associated with traditional CDN setups.

Furthermore, for streaming platforms, the imperative to deliver seamless, uninterrupted content is paramount. GeoDNS technology caters to this need by ensuring that video streams are efficiently routed to users from the optimal location. This not only elevates the viewing experience but also supports the platforms’ scalability as they expand into new markets.

Revolutionizing Streaming Services with GeoDNS

Expanding Global Reach While Maintaining Local Quality

One of the most significant challenges for media companies aiming to globalize their content is maintaining a consistent quality of service across diverse geographic regions. CDNs address this challenge by localizing content delivery. Regardless of the user’s location, CDNs provide a local presence that ensures content is delivered with the highest possible quality and the lowest possible latency, making global reach a realistic goal for media entities of all sizes. 

This localization strategy also allows for compliance with regional data regulations and content customization based on local preferences, further enhancing the user experience. By effectively shrinking the vast digital world into a tightly knit community of localized content delivery, CDNs enable media companies to create a universally high-quality experience that feels both global in reach and local in flavor.

Suggested to read: Global Reach, Local Touch: The Role of GeoDNS in eCommerce Expansion

CDN and SEO: A Synergistic Relationship

The benefits of CDN extend beyond just content delivery, impacting SEO rankings positively. Fast-loading pages and efficient content distribution are rewarded by search engines, highlighting the necessity of integrating CDN solutions into your digital strategy to enhance online visibility and performance. The relationship between CDN and SEO is symbiotic, with speed, reliability, and security contributing to better search rankings, while also enhancing the user experience. This synergy helps businesses to not only attract but also retain their online audience, providing a solid foundation for growth and success in the digital marketplace.

Conclusion

Leveraging GeoDNS as a CDN solution is crucial for ensuring fast, reliable, and globally scalable content delivery, enhancing both user experience and SEO performance in the competitive digital landscape. This approach not only streamlines access to digital media across diverse geographic regions but also fortifies the infrastructure against the challenges of scale and security. As the digital sphere continues to grow, the strategic implementation of GeoDNS as a CDN emerges as a pivotal asset for media companies aiming to excel in global content distribution.

The post Why media can’t live without CDN appeared first on ClouDNS Blog.

What is CDN?

CDN (Content Delivery Network) is a network of geographically distributed servers all around the world. Each of these servers is a PoP (Point of Presence). It has a cache of the data that the users in this specific location will use. CDN doesn’t substitute the web hosting; it just makes many cached data of the original data and stores it around the world for better accessibility. It works using the GeoDNS technology so the visitors of your website will be connected to the fastest/closest server, without the need to get the data from the web hosting. CDN saves a lot of time.

Why is it important?

A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is important because it improves the performance, scalability, and security of websites and applications. By distributing content across multiple servers located in different geographic locations, CDNs can deliver content faster and more efficiently to users. That way, it reduces latency, improves page load times, and provides a better user experience. CDNs can also handle high volumes of traffic, reducing server load and improving website scalability. Furthermore, CDNs offer security features such as DDoS protection and web application firewalls, which help protect against cyber threats. Overall, CDNs are an essential tool for modern businesses that rely on fast and efficient content delivery, global reach, and robust security.

History of CDN

Different technologies affected the birth of CDN – hierarchical caching, server farms, cache proxy deployment and improved web servers.
The first generation of CDN came around the late 90’s. People created them because of the growing use of on-demand content (audio, video, etc.). Dynamic and static content delivery. It was mostly intelligent routing and edge computer methods. The second and current generation, is cloud-based, relying on a peer-to-peer connection and it is focused on video-on-demand.

How does it work?

A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a system of servers distributed geographically to deliver web content to users more quickly and efficiently. When a user requests a web page, the CDN provides the content from a server closer to the user’s location, reducing the time it takes to load.

The process of delivering content through a CDN typically involves the following steps:

1. A user requests a website or a specific web page from their browser.
2. The user’s request is received by the nearest CDN server, called an edge server, to their geographic location. The edge server is determined based on the user’s IP address, which reveals their location.
3. If the edge server has a cached copy of the requested content, it serves it directly to the user’s browser. Caching involves storing a copy of the content on the edge server. That way, it can be delivered more quickly to users in the future.
4. If the edge server doesn’t have a cached copy of the content, it requests it from the origin server. The origin server is the original source of the content, typically the website’s hosting server.
5. The origin server responds by sending the requested content to the edge server.
6. The edge server caches the received content from the origin server for future requests.
7. Finally, the edge server provides the requested content to the user’s browser.

By distributing content across multiple servers, a CDN can reduce the load on the origin server and provide a more reliable and scalable infrastructure for delivering content to users worldwide. Additionally, since edge servers are located closer to users, the time it takes to load web pages is significantly reduced, improving the user experience.

For who is it?

Anyone can benefit from CDN. From the big companies that we mentioned before and small blog websites. The technology increases the speed of the website and can be very useful even if you have just a WordPress blog. This helps the SEO, and your website will rank a lot better in Google, and your visitors will be happier thanks to the speed boost.

Here are some examples of who can benefit the most from implementing a CDN:

• E-commerce Platforms: E-commerce websites can experience irregular traffic patterns, especially during peak shopping seasons or promotional events. CDNs help these platforms deliver product images, videos, and web pages quickly and efficiently to customers worldwide, ensuring a seamless shopping experience and maximizing sales.
• Media and Entertainment Companies: Streaming services, gaming platforms, and content providers rely heavily on CDNs to deliver high-quality audio and video content to users across different locations, devices and platforms. CDNs minimize buffering, reduce latency, and ensure smooth playback, enhancing the overall user experience and driving engagement.
• Software Companies: Software companies distribute updates, patches, and installation files to users globally. CDNs accelerate the download process, reduce bandwidth consumption, and ensure reliable delivery of software updates, enabling users to access the latest releases quickly and securely.
• News and Publishing Websites: News websites and publishing platforms require fast and reliable content delivery to keep readers informed and engaged. CDNs ensure timely delivery of articles, images, and multimedia content, even during periods of high traffic volume or breaking news events, enhancing reader satisfaction and retention.
• Gaming Industry: Online gaming platforms depend on low-latency, high-performance networks to deliver an immersive gaming experience to players worldwide. CDNs minimize lag, reduce packet loss, and optimize server response times, providing gamers with enhanced gameplay experiences.

How to create your CDN using DNS

Benefits

CDN is able to provide numerous benefits, some of which are the following:

• The most significant benefit is definitely the speed. It reduces the latency; everything loads way faster than before. How fast? On average 70% faster!
• Load balancing. By using different PoPs around the world, the traffic gets well distributed, and it reduces the traffic on the original server.
• It reduces the bandwidth consumption, so if your web host has low bandwidth, this can help you a lot.
• It has DDoS protection. It protects you from a single point of failure, thanks to the many different PoPs.
• It will improve the SEO of your site. Google values the speed of your website as one of the key indicators for ranking in its search engine.

Conclusion

Content Delivery Networks are getting more popular thanks to its advantages. Many people start using it for E-commerce Entertainment and blog sites. It can help you over rank your competitors on the Google pages and provide a better uptime. There is no doubt that this solution is definitely worth trying!

The post What is CDN (Content Delivery Network)? appeared first on ClouDNS Blog.

1. Choose a good web hosting

As we said earlier, speed is essential. Choosing a good web hosting is not easy. Many of the web hosting companies don’t show all of the information to the public, so you need to ask extra. The most important aspects are that the servers are modern, that they use SSD, they give you enough resources for you (what percentage of the shared resources are you getting), physical location and of course the price. The web hosting might be the most significant investment so take your time.

2. Use a barebone theme

Barebone WordPress theme might be a bit contra logical to you but bear with us for a moment. Yes, a barebone theme will be less spectacular, but again our primary concern is speed. It will load a lot faster and give you an advantage in the Google ranking. You need to be sure that the theme is mobile-friendly too. This is a very cheap update.

3. Optimize images

And this one is entirely free! Use a compressed format like .JPG for your images and keep the resolution down. You don’t need a full 20Mpx image, especially when most of the internet traffic comes from mobile with an average 1080p display. Use 1MPx image and your pages will load fast and still provide a quality post for your visitors. For the resizing, you can use an online site or download a image resizing application on your device.

4. Speed up WordPress using caching plugin

There are free and paid options. We recommend you WP Super Cache. This one creates static HTML files that most of your visitors will see instead of the WordPress PHP scripts. Html is lighter and easier to load.

5. Use CDN

You can create your own CDN (content delivery network) using DNS. It will give you the chance to have many more point of presence in the world. Like this, your users from China will be redirected from the servers close to them in Asia and the ones in The US will have others close by. It will significantly reduce the time to load for your page, and you can use it with all of the previous speed up WordPress tips.

If you are interested, you can check our GeoDNS or talk to our sales team that can give you extra details.  It is relatively inexpensive, and it gives excellent results.

Conclusion

To be one step ahead of your competitors is not easy, but with good research and some tweaks, you can get far better results. Some of these speed up WordPress optimizations cost extra money, but when you see the difference in reach and positioning you will be content.

The post 5 tips to speed up WordPress website appeared first on ClouDNS Blog.

What is CDN?

CDN is a content delivery system that you can get with GeoDNS. It uses many PoPs (points of presence) around the globe, where the data of your website is cached. When a visitor wants to see your site, he or she will be redirected to the closest PoP near him or he will get the data from that server there. This saves a lot of time because his or her request won’t go to the original hosting server, but rather to the one near him. This can increase the speed significantly. For example, your website is hosted in an Asian hosting but an American is trying to visit it, then the American won’t need to get the data from Asia, he will be redirected to a server near in the United States.

The advantages of CDN

• Boost the speed. Obviously, the shorter distance that the requests from your visitors will do, makes them load the pages faster. The speed is significant, so even with a heave WordPress there, it will still load normally.
• SEO! You will get better ranking on Google thanks to the less loading time.
• Load Balance. Your WordPress website is getting more popular and you are experiencing more traffic? Don’t worry, with CDN you can redirect the traffic and spread it around through the different PoPs.
• Reduces the bandwidth. Coming from the previous point, it also helps you with the limited bandwidth that web host services provide.
• Protection. It adds an extra level of protection against DDoS attacks by load balancing. This will lead to less downtime for your site.

Conclusion

Using a content delivery system for your WordPress site is an easy external way to speed up your site. You can combine it with internal optimization and get an excellent result. If you want to start using CDN, you can check our GeoDNS. Look at the different options and choose the best for you according to the size and traffic of your site.

The post Speed up WordPress with CDN appeared first on ClouDNS Blog.

CDN is a network of servers geographically located in different areas around the world. They serve as a load balancer that redirect the traffic that goes to your website to the closest Point of Presence near you. It is like a shortcut. Now your visitors will not waste time to get to the web host service you use. They will be conveniently redirected to a cached data of your site, that is milliseconds away from them. They will open the pages fast and will have a better experience.

What is SEO?

Search engine optimization, SEO is the most important thing for your website. Better position on the search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing will translate to more visits to your site and you know, more visits more conversions (Clicks, sales, subscriptions, etc.).

There are many factors that get accounted for the SEO, but most important few are the content, security of the site, mobile friendly, backlinks and SPEED.

To make your page load faster, you can do internal or external changes.

Internal like striping your website from unused code, keep the size down on the media content. They are harder to do and take extra time every time you need to publish new content.

Externals like choosing a good hosting, which most of the time is expensive, or use CDN for more bang for your buck. CDN is relatively cheaper than most high-level web hosting and it brings better results.

What CDN does?

It will lower the latency, making the experience of your visitors a lot more pleasant. It will improve the uptime, because now even if your web hosting is down, the visitors will still get your content through the CDN, connecting to one of the PoPs (points of presence).
As we already mentioned, you can combine it even with a cheap web hosting plan and still get excellent results. In most of the cases, it gives far better results than the expensive web hosting plans, when you compare the money.
It gives you DDoS protection. With so many PoPs, it reduces the traffic and it is very resistant.

Who can use CDN for better SEO?

Everybody! No seriously, there are no restrictions. Many Media companies and Online sellers are using it but you can see that even bloggers choose to boost their SEO with CDN. It is a very easy method and it shows result fast. If you are not sure yet, you can try our GeoDNS service for free for 30 days. See with your own eyes, the effect on the speed and that decide if it is right for you.

Conclusion

SEO is difficult to master. It is full of factors that you need to consider, but speed is a key one.
CDN is an easy way to boost your SEO. It can massively increase the loading speed of your site and your visitors will definitely love the change.

The post CDN and SEO, are they connected? appeared first on ClouDNS Blog.