What Is a DDoS Attack and How Does VernalWeb Protect You?

A DDoS attack — short for Distributed Denial of Service — is an attempt to knock a website offline by flooding its server with a huge amount of fake traffic. Overwhelmed by the flood, the server struggles to answer real visitors, and the site slows to a crawl or stops responding altogether.

How a DDoS attack works

Attackers use a network of many compromised computers (a “botnet”) to send waves of requests to a target at the same time. Because the traffic comes from thousands of different sources at once, it is hard to simply block one address — that is the “distributed” part.

Signs your site may be under attack

• Your website suddenly becomes very slow or unreachable.
• A massive, unexplained spike in traffic from many locations.
• Your server resources max out with no marketing or news reason.

How VernalWeb helps protect you

Our infrastructure includes network-level protections and firewalls that detect and filter abusive traffic before it overwhelms your site. On top of that, you can strengthen your own defences:

• Use a CDN, which absorbs and filters traffic across a large network.
• Keep software updated and remove vulnerable plugins.
• Block clearly abusive addresses — see blocking an IP address in cPanel.

Frequently asked questions

What should I do if I think my site is under attack?

Contact us straight away — open a support ticket so we can investigate and apply mitigation at the server level.

Can a DDoS attack steal my data?

A DDoS attack aims to disrupt availability, not to steal data directly. However, it is sometimes used as a distraction, so keep your security tight regardless.

Does a CDN stop DDoS attacks?

A good CDN greatly reduces their impact by absorbing traffic across a huge network and filtering malicious requests before they reach your server.