On 23rd July 2023, Kenya’s essential website infrastructure faced a daunting challenge when it was targeted by Anonymous Sudan’s DDoS cyberattacks. The hacktivist group unleashed a relentless barrage of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks against critical online services in the country.
The impact of the attack was far-reaching, affecting crucial systems like the e-Citizen portal, which provides access to over 5,000 government services, as well as the Mpesa Mobile payment platform. Citizens faced difficulties accessing services like passport applications, e-visas for foreigners, driving license issuance, and national health records, among others. The attack had significant consequences, considering that 76% of Kenyans use mobile money and 67% use mobile internet.
DDoS attacks are cybercrimes where attackers flood a server with internet traffic to disrupt legitimate users’ access to connected online services and websites. To better understand this, imagine a shop in downtown Nairobi’s Moi Avenue street with only one entrance. A DDoS attack would be like a large crowd of people trying to enter simultaneously, blocking access for everyone.
Motivations for such attacks can vary, with some attackers looking to make a statement, exploit cyber vulnerabilities for fun, or express disapproval. The attackers aim to overwhelm their targets with fake internet traffic called botnets, which are collections of hijacked connected devices controlled remotely from a Command and Control Center.
Protecting against DDoS attacks requires a multi-layered defense approach. Here are practical ways to defend your website against such threats:
- Use a DDoS Protection Service or CDN: Consider leveraging the expertise of a reliable DDoS protection service or content delivery network to detect and filter out malicious traffic before it reaches your server.
- Implement Traffic Rate Limiting: Control the number of requests per second from individual IP addresses to prevent overwhelming your server with excessive traffic from a single source.
- Employ a Web Application Firewall (WAF): Analyze incoming traffic, detect suspicious patterns, and block malicious requests with a WAF, providing enhanced protection against various DDoS attack types.
- Opt for Scalable Hosting: Choose hosting solutions like cloud-based or dedicated server hosting that can scale resources during traffic spikes, ensuring smooth operations even during peak times.
- Distribute Traffic with Load Balancing: Spread incoming traffic across multiple servers using load balancers to avoid overloading a single server.
- Leverage Traffic Scrubbing Techniques: Filter out malicious traffic before it reaches your website’s server through traffic scrubbing, a collaboration between your hosting provider or DDoS protection service.
- Utilize Anycast DNS: Mitigate DDoS attacks by distributing traffic to multiple geographically dispersed servers using Anycast DNS, reducing the impact on any single location.
- Monitor Traffic and Set Real-Time Alerts: Regularly monitor your website’s traffic patterns and set up real-time alerts to detect potential DDoS attacks promptly.
- Enable CAPTCHA and Rate Limiting: Deter automated bots with CAPTCHA challenges for suspicious login attempts and apply rate limiting to restrict the number of login attempts within a specific timeframe.
- Establish Communication Channels: Establish effective communication channels with your hosting provider, DDoS protection service, or security experts to report and respond to DDoS attacks efficiently.
- Keep Software Updated: Regularly update your website’s software, including CMS, plugins, and other components, to address known security vulnerabilities.
- Develop an Incident Response Plan: Prepare an incident response plan outlining the steps to be taken in the event of a DDoS attack, with clear roles and responsibilities for key team members and escalation procedures.
By implementing these practical measures, you can significantly reduce the risk of falling victim to DDoS attacks and ensure your critical website services remain resilient and available, even during potential threats. Your website’s security is vital to safeguard your online services, so let’s stay vigilant and fortified against cyber adversaries.
