A DDoS attack, or Distributed Denial of Service, is a type of cyberattack where a server, website, or online service is intentionally flooded with fake traffic—so much that it becomes overwhelmed and stops responding to real users.

In simple terms: it’s like a crowd of thousands trying to force their way into a shop at once—not to buy anything, but just to block the doorway so no one else can get in.

For business owners, this kind of attack can bring your website down completely, disrupt sales or customer service, and harm your reputation—even if no actual data is stolen.

How does a DDoS attack work?

A DDoS attack usually involves a network of hijacked computers and devices (called a botnet) that simultaneously send requests to a targeted server. The server, trying to respond to each request, quickly runs out of resources—CPU, memory, bandwidth—and crashes or becomes too slow to use.

The goal? To make your website or service unavailable. DDoS attacks are often used:

• As a form of digital vandalism
• To damage a competitor
• To extort payment (“Pay us or we’ll shut your site down”)
• As a smokescreen to distract from another hack attempt

Signs of a DDoS attack

You might be under attack if:

• Your website suddenly becomes slow or unresponsive
• You see huge traffic spikes from unknown or foreign IPs
• Your server logs show repeated, identical requests
• You’re locked out of your own admin panel due to server overload

The key difference from regular traffic surges (like a successful ad campaign) is that DDoS traffic is unnatural, automated, and often comes from thousands of different IP addresses.

What’s the impact?

DDoS attacks don’t steal data directly—but they can seriously hurt your business:

• Downtime – Your website or online store becomes unavailable
• Lost revenue – No sales, no inquiries, no bookings
• Customer frustration – People may think your site is broken or unreliable
• Hosting overage fees – Some hosts charge for excess traffic, even if it’s malicious
• Reputation damage – Especially if the attack takes you down repeatedly

How to protect against DDoS attacks

You can’t completely stop someone from launching an attack, but you can make your site much harder to knock offline:

• Use a CDN with DDoS protection
  Services like Cloudflare or Sucuri can detect and absorb bad traffic before it hits your server.
• Choose a secure host
  Reputable hosting providers offer basic DDoS protection and mitigation at the server level.
• Rate limit and firewall rules
  Block abusive IPs, throttle repeated requests, and monitor suspicious behavior.
• Stay alert
  Monitoring tools or uptime checks can alert you within minutes if your site goes down.
• Have a recovery plan
  Know what to do (and who to contact) if an attack happens—so you can react fast.

Bottom line

A DDoS attack is like a digital traffic jam designed to paralyze your website. While it doesn’t steal information, it does steal your uptime, your trust, and potentially your revenue. The good news? With the right protection in place, you can stay resilient—and keep your site running smoothly even when bad actors try to bring it down.