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#10165 Can Admin Tools Help with DDoS

Posted in ‘Admin Tools for Joomla! 4 & 5’
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Environment Information

Joomla! version
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PHP version
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Admin Tools version
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Latest post by nicholas on Wednesday, 21 December 2011 14:45 CST

user357
Mandatory information about my setup:

Have I read the related troubleshooter articles above before posting (which pages?)? No
Have I searched the forum before posting? Yes
Have I read the documentation before posting (which pages?)? Yes
Joomla! version: 1.7.3
PHP version: 5.3.2
MySQL version: 5.1.4
Host: (optional, but it helps us help you)
Admin Tools version: 2.1.14


Description of my issue:

Over the weekend, one of my clients was hit with a massive DDoS complete with ransom note! The hosting company had no clue what to do and eventually I found a 3rd party companies that would route and filter all calls through their servers (for a very hefty ransom, err fee!). The client ended up having to do that just to get their business back on line.

I wasn't that involved with the fix, but I think the 3rd party security company monitored the IP's that the DDoS was coming from and set up a server to filter those calls and just pass along everything else to our application.

After the excitement died down, I check the AT logs to see if anything was noted. There was no indication that anything was amiss. Matter of fact, the logs looked less populated than usual, which may be because the server was so overloaded that the application was never even touched.

That last comment may have just answered my own question! If the application isn't actually called because the server is swamped, there probably isn't much AT can do.

Right now, the system logs have all of our traffic coming from a small set of IP addresess, and we are blocking everything else. I wonder what problems that may cause down the road.

slaes
sounds like a bit of a joke. Is you client on a shared host?

The fact is a well orchestrated ddos attack with enough zombie machines is impossible to stop, but go find enough machines, very difficult to arrange. And there are many types, most commonly brute force.

You should at the very minimum be limiting the amount of connections per ip at an apaches level using csf or something similar. Also the apache conf files should be configured according to the spec (in my view upto 85% of the cap). what allot of ppl dont realise is that they configuer a box, which can handle much more, choke it by lowering its output, thinking they'll never see load spikes. Where in actual fact its opposite. Request ques will apply more load, than less and if your server is specked to handle it, dont choke it, let them through. My 2 cents.

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
I concur. The proper solution to fending off a DDoS attack is CSF or any other iptables-based firewall. By the time the request is handled by PHP code, it's too late. Better yet, you can have a hardware firewall "at the gates" (after the core switches, before the internal network gear) if you're overly paranoid and don't mind the cost. But on a shared host, the realistic solution is an iptables-based firewall, like CSF. If the host has no idea what this is, man, run away from then and make sure you run FAST! It's best to go to a decent host where engineers know the basics of setting up a server ;)

BTW, as to the security aspect of a DDoS attack, it's not compromising your site. The only drawback of a DDoS attack is that it "chokes" the server with too many requests, which pretty much means that your site "dies" (it has a lag time in the magnitude of dozens of seconds and many requests fail, essentially becoming inaccessible). The third party services which rip you off your money to fend off DDoS attacks essentially work as a firewall between incoming traffic and your site. It's the same kind of firewall slaes and myself were talking about ;)

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

user357
Its not a joke and I agree and concur also! The site is on a dedicated host, but the hosting company is 'not the swiftest'.

The client runs a very profitable online site, and they couldn't wait till the hosting company figured out what to do so they had to go with the 3rd party company. I've told them about more sophisticated hosting companies (esp those that specialize in Joomla! sites) so they are seriously thinking about making a switch in the near future.

user357
I meant to add that we will be asking potential hosting companies about their epereince and defenses against these types of attacks. It will be interesting to hear their answers.

Any suggestions (aside from Rochen of course) is appreciated.

nicholas
Akeeba Staff
Manager
I would suggest iRedHOST, the hosting branch of RedWEB. They are Joomla!-centric, they host some major (as in big-time corporations) sites and they have hands-on experience with dealing with DDoS attacks. Back in October 2010, Ronnie explained me how they averted a DDoS attack for a client of theirs. These guys know what they're doing!

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

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