Websites Knocked Offline by Accidental DDoS Attack

The Labour party website was knocked offline in what is being named an “accidental DDoS attack”. This was due to a surge of traffic to the website from well-meaning supporters. Due to this incident, the party extended their deadline to register and vote in the Leadership elections. Marc Gaffan, General Manager of Imperva, explains what the party should have done in preparation for the surge of visitors to the website.

[su_quote style=”modern-light”]Marc Gaffan, General Manager of Imperva :

“While it’s interesting that the term DDoS has entered the vernacular, a site that is overwhelmed by its own users is obviously not under attack. Organizations that expect a surge in traffic leading up to a deadline, whether political or retail, need to employ both load balancing and caching to spread the load and speed up the user experience, respectively. That prevents too many users on a single server, and reduces the number of frustrated users who hit the reload button, thereby making the problem worse.”[/su_quote][su_box title=”About Imperva” style=”noise” box_color=”#336588″]Imperva (NYSE: IMPV), is a leading provider of cyber security solutions that protect business-critical data and applications. The company’s SecureSphere, Incapsula and Skyfence product lines enable organizations to discover assets and risks, protect information wherever it lives – in the cloud and on-premises – and comply with regulations. The Imperva Application Defense Center, a research team comprised of some of the world’s leading experts in data and application security, continually enhances Imperva products with up-to-the minute threat intelligence, and publishes reports that provide insight and guidance on the latest threats and how to mitigate them. Imperva is headquartered in Redwood Shores, California.[/su_box]