As consumers are getting their shopping lists ready for the biggest shopping days of the year, businesses should get ready as well. Cyber-attacks, and most notably DDoS attacks, are more likely to occur on high traffic days – in fact, according to a 2013 eCommerce Cyber Crime Report conducted by the Ponemon Institute, 64% of respondents say "their organizations have seen an increase in Internet fraud and/or website attacks on high traffic days such as Cyber Monday."
With financial stakes high during the holiday season, online retailers need to make sure they are prepared and take necessary steps to help protect their customers.
Plan in Advance
As in most things, preparation is key. This includes knowing your network and implementing a DDoS mitigation solution in advance as the best means to protect your infrastructure, your data and your customers. Evaluate in advance which solution best fits your organization's needs. In addition, make sure you have an emergency response plan ready and that your organization is aware and trained on the plan. The plan should identify resources, tools and procedures for what to do during an attack.
Don't Depend on Manual Detection Alone
Early detection is important and can make a big difference for you and your customers. As attacks are typically launched during busy periods when organizations are already stretched for resources, relying on manual detection can put the availability of your servers and applications at risk during an attack. High-quality, automatic detection is critical – it gives you the coverage you need without relying on manual resources. Remember, you can only protect against what you can detect.
Have an Expert Security Team On Hand, Ready To Respond
Activate your in-house team if you have one and contact your vendor's emergency response team as well. Radware's Emergency Response Team is staffed by experts that have vast knowledge and experience with network threats and can provide instantaneous, expert security assistance in order to restore network and service operational status.
Communicate Early and Often with Customers and Partners, And Also Your Employees
Identify a spokesperson for media inquiries. Make sure messaging is coordinated across all external communications channels and keep those channels updated on a regular basis during an attack.
Learn and Improve
Once things settle down, go back through the response process to identify areas for improvements in your tools, processes and resources. Make sure to follow up with customers for damage control and to re-establish relationships.
While you can't stop hackers from launching an attack, you can ensure that your defenses are robust enough to withstand such attacks and provide a positive experience for your customers. This is true every day of the year but even more so during this busy holiday period, so both businesses and consumers can enjoy a safer online experience and a fruitful shopping season.
If you’re interested in learning more about the different approaches to stop DDOS Attacks, visit here to download a free whitepaper. This paper is a great resource for organizations that need to guarantee the availability of their online services and want to learn how to stop future attacks.