100% cpu usage, DDOS attack.

Posted on October 2, 2022

I found 100% cpu usage, most likely from a DDOS attack, how do I fix this? https://www.img.in.th/images/c86d0492c91e0967f0d8da048d76df07.png

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Bobby

October 2, 2022

Hi there,

What you could do is to use a CDN provider like Cloudflare, which also includes free DDoS protection that you can enable in such situations.

I do have a script that you could use to automatically enable the Cloudflare DDoS protection, whenever the server CPU usage spiles up. You can follow the steps on how to do that here:

Bash Script to Automatically Enable Cloudflare DDoS Protection

Let me know how it goes!

Best,

Bobby

KFSys

October 3, 2022

Hi @littleelectricblueangler,

As mentioned using a CDN like CloudFlare is the best option there is.

If you don’t want to use one, however, you can try a more restrictive firewall like Fail2Ban. Check the following tutorial on how to configure and use it:

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-protect-ssh-with-fail2ban-on-ubuntu-20-04

Bobby

November 1, 2023

Hello there,

Quick update here. I’m excited to share that DigitalOcean has introduced a new feature in response to the valuable feedback we’ve received from users like you: DigitalOcean DDoS Protection:

https://www.digitalocean.com/products/ddos-protection

Here are some key points about this new offering:

Cost: DigitalOcean DDoS Protection is available at no additional cost. That’s right, it’s a free service for all users!
Coverage: The protection extends to a range of DigitalOcean resources including:
- Droplets
- Kubernetes
- Managed Databases
- Load Balancers
- Reserved IPs
Protection Layers: This service provides protection primarily at the Network (layer 3) and Transport (layer 4) layers of the OSI model. Please note that Application layer (layer 7) DDoS Protection is currently not supported.
Latency Concerns: One of the standout features of this service is that mitigation takes place entirely within the DigitalOcean network. This means that data traffic doesn’t leave our network for mitigation, ensuring that your applications experience no additional latency.
Overall Benefit: DigitalOcean DDoS Protection is an always-on service designed to defend your DigitalOcean cloud resources against a range of generalized, network-layer DDoS attacks. This ensures that your apps and websites run smoothly, without the threat of potential disruptions from such attacks.