DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks are a constant threat to game servers. A DDoS attack floods your server with fake traffic, overwhelming it until legitimate players can't connect.
Why Game Servers Are Targeted
Game servers are prime targets because of competitive jealousy from rival communities, revenge from banned players, extortion attempts, or attackers who enjoy disruption.
How DDoS Protection Works
Layer 3/4 protection defends against volumetric attacks with traffic scrubbing centers, rate limiting, and IP reputation filtering. Layer 7 protection defends against application attacks with protocol validation and behavioral analysis.
Protection Levels
Basic protection (10-20 Gbps) works for small servers under 50 players. Standard protection (up to 100 Gbps) with multi-layer defense works for most servers. Enterprise protection (1+ Tbps) with dedicated security teams is for large communities with 500+ players.
Red Flags
Watch out for hosts that charge extra for DDoS protection, only offer Layer 3 protection, have vague protection specs, null-route during attacks (take you offline), or have history of extended downtime.
What to Look For
Protection should be included (not an add-on), provide multi-layer defense (Layers 3, 4, and 7), have 100+ Gbps minimum capacity, offer automatic mitigation, and have a proven track record.
Best Practices
Don't share your real IP, use a game panel to hide server IP, enable firewall rules to block unnecessary ports, monitor traffic for anomalies, and have a backup plan with a secondary server ready.
Cost of Inadequate Protection
Without proper DDoS protection you face lost revenue, reputation damage, community loss, and wasted hosting fees paying for an unusable server.
All OCNetworks servers include enterprise-grade DDoS protection with multi-layer defense, 100+ Gbps capacity, automatic mitigation, and no extra cost. No null-routing. No downtime.
