Distributed denial-of-service attacks attempt to overwhelm a network or application with more traffic than it can process. Always-on protection monitors traffic continuously and filters recognised attack patterns before they reach the hosted service.
Network protection is the first layer
Mitigation at the network edge helps absorb volumetric attacks that an individual server could never handle alone. This keeps malicious traffic away from the server connection while allowing legitimate requests to continue wherever possible.
Application security still matters
DDoS protection does not replace operating-system updates, secure passwords, a web application firewall or sensible rate limits. Those controls protect against different threats and should be maintained alongside network mitigation.
Monitor unusual behaviour
Keep application and access logs, configure service monitoring and investigate sudden increases in requests or resource use. Early visibility makes it easier to distinguish genuine growth from abuse.
Build for graceful failure
Use caching, request limits and appropriately sized services. A well-configured application remains more resilient during traffic spikes, regardless of whether that traffic is malicious or legitimate.