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What is a DDoS Attack?

In today’s digital-first world, service uptime is business-critical. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are a growing threat, capable of overwhelming your systems, disrupting services, and damaging customer trust. Whether you’re a retailer, public sector body, or enterprise, a well-timed attack can bring operations to a halt.

KCOM’s network based DDoS Protection service helps you stay online and resilient no matter the threat.

A DDoS attack floods your network, website, or application with malicious traffic, overloading infrastructure and making services unavailable to legitimate users. These attacks are often launched using large botnets made up of infected devices, making them difficult to trace or block using standard tools and too late if your protection is your gateway or local firewall.

Common Types of DDoS Attacks

  • Volume-based Attacks

    These involve overwhelming the target with high traffic volumes, slowing your connection down to an unusable level.

  • Protocol Attacks

    Exploiting vulnerabilities in network protocols to exhaust network resources.

  • Application Layer Attacks

    Targeting specific functions of a website, such as form submissions, and flooding them with excessive requests.

    Modern attacks are increasingly multi-vector, combining several techniques for maximum disruption. KCOM’s service is designed to detect and mitigate these blended threats in real-time.

    Why should you be concerned?

    DDoS attacks can result in:

    • Downtime

      Extended service outages, resulting in loss of customers and poor customer experience

    • Reputational Damage

      Downtime erodes customer confidence.

    • Legal Issues

      Businesses might face regulatory challenges if data protection laws are violated during an attack.

      5 Ways to Get Your Business Ready for DDoS Attacks

      While it’s not always possible to stop a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack from happening, you can take steps to minimise the impact. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) outlines five key actions to help organisations strengthen their defences and respond effectively.
      • 1. Know what’s at risk
        DDoS attacks can target different areas of your infrastructure to overload resources and interrupt service. Identify which systems are publicly accessible, which ones are mission-critical, and who is responsible for protecting them: whether it’s your in-house IT team, hosting provider, or network partner.
      • 2. Strengthen upstream protection
        Your network provider plays a vital role in blocking large-scale DDoS attacks before they reach your systems. Make sure they can identify and filter harmful traffic at the network edge. 
      • 3. Build in geographic scalability
        A flexible network setup is essential for absorbing traffic spikes during an attack. 
      • 4. Have a clear response plan
        If an attack occurs, a well-prepared response plan can make all the difference. Consider steps like limiting traffic to trusted regions (e.g. UK IPs), preserving access for admin functions, and ensuring backup systems are in place for key operations.
      • 5. Test regularly and monitor continuously
        Ongoing testing ensures your defences work when they’re needed most. Real-time monitoring helps you detect suspicious activity early, so you can act quickly. Solutions like KCOM Networks DDoS Mitigation and DDoS Monitoring give you round-the-clock visibility to stay ahead of threats.
      KCOM’s Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) protection provides mitigation against DDoS attacks from within the KCOM Core network. These attacks are increasingly targeted at customer’s internet connections, swamping your connection with unwanted traffic, which causes interruption, slow connection and downtime for your business.

      Service Options

      KCOM provides tiered levels of DDoS protection to meet varying customer requirements—whether you need basic defence or enhanced support for business-critical applications. Our service is designed to complement existing firewalls and security infrastructure, offering network-level resilience where traditional tools fall short.
      Feature Bronze Silver Gold
      Always on detection and active traffic monitoring ✓ ✓ ✓
      Maximum bandwidth protection 1Gbps 1Gbps 10Gbps
      Response time to DDoS attack Automated mitigation 24/7/365
      Attack alerts ✓
      Reactive
      Monday–Friday      		 ✓
      Reactive
      Monday–Sunday      		 ✓
      Proactive
      24/7/365
      Attack and mitigation reports ✓
      Monthly report      		 ✓
      Weekly report      		 ✓
      Accessed via device
      Object mitigation customised template ✗ Up to 3 tailored templates Up to 5 tailored templates
      Incident management Unlimited auto-mitigations Unlimited auto-mitigations
      + manual mitigation      		 Unlimited auto-mitigations
      + manual mitigation
      Fast flood ✓
      Mitigation time of <5min      		 ✓
      Mitigation time of <2min      		 ✓
      Mitigation time of <1min
      On-site device for self-monitoring ✗ ✗ ✓
      Support ✓
      Monday–Friday
      0800–1700      		 ✓
      Monday–Sunday
      0800–1700      		 ✓
      24/7/365
      SLA Service credits available
      Amendments to configuration ✗ Up to 3 amendments
      within business hours
      (Mon–Fri 0800–1700)      		 Unlimited amendments
      within business hours
      (Mon–Fri 0800–1700)

      Get in touch with our sales team for more information on 0800 9155 777 or