<b>What Happens When Gaming Companies Don't Have DDoS Protected Hosting?</b>

DDoS protected hosting can save companies, especially gaming companies, hundreds of thousands of dollars. Many DDoS attacks have been reported and they happen at just the right time to really mess with the bottom-line of a company.

<b>DDoS Attack on Steam</b>

Steam is Valve’s PC gaming site and it was attacked on Friday, December 19th, 2013. This was the last day of their huge holiday sale and for the final hours of the sale, their site was completely down.

This DDoS attack was reported to be the handiwork of two Twitter users. They stated they used botnet to send more traffic to the Steam servers than they could handle. This caused service outages and Steam lost holiday sales because they didn't have the right DDoS protected hosting in place.

Other DDoS attacks happened throughout the holiday season, as well. Blizzard reported their site Battle.net was attacked and the servers for DOTA 2 and League of Legends were also attacked. Another group of hackers claimed responsibility for these attacks.

<b>DOTA 2 Tournament Hacked</b>

Another DDoS Attack was used to shut down DOTA 2 in the middle of a tournament. Again, without the right DDoS protected hosting, this successful attack affected many European players after about 20 days of smooth matches.

The sources of these attacks were unknown and some of the matches had to be postponed. Not only was this a huge hit to DOTA 2, but also to the gamers involved in the tournament. Large cash prizes were on the line during the tournament and this is one suspected reason for the attack.

<b>How Does a DDoS Attack Work?</b>

The basis of a DDoS attack is pretty simple. Computers are used to send a massive overload of traffic to a website's servers and it will continue until they go offline. These are very powerful attacks and can take down gaming sites within just a few minutes.

<b>Why Businesses and Gaming Sites Need DDoS Protection</b>

Without proper protection, servers can easily be overloaded with traffic, which can cause many issues. The downtime alone can cost a company thousands of dollars. However, if the hackers plan a DDoS attack that is large enough, it could cause damage to the equipment and many other issues.

Losing customers is never a good thing for a business and frustrated gamers will often take to the social network world. This can be very harmful to any game or gaming site. However, it's important to note, DDoS attacks don't just go after gaming sites. Other businesses have reported attacks, such as ITWolrdCanada.com, Akamai Technologies and many others.

<b>Are You Prepared for a DDoS Attack?</b>

Corero Network Security surveyed 100 different companies and found that many are not prepared for a DDoS attack. Even though they understand downtime could cost them thousands of dollars, they are not setting up the right type of protection for such an attack.

The survey showed that 44% of the companies have no DDoS protection in place at all and only 41% have actually set up true DDoS defense technology. Some of the companies stated they will depend on regular firewalls, but these are not always enough to ward off this type of attack.

<b>DDoS Protected Hosting is Necessary in 2014</b>

Many experts believe the DDoS attacks will only get worse. They also say that many companies are not prepared for such an attack and continue to ignore their need for DDoS protected hosting.

As these attacks become even more popular, the right protection will become a necessity. Large and small businesses may experience attacks in the upcoming year and without the right DDoS hosting, it will be hard for them to recover quickly.

The holiday season brought many attacks because hackers know this is a time of the year when it can do the most damage. However, other huge shopping days are found throughout the year, as well. DDoS attacks may be used by hackers during the most profitable days and could cost companies tens of thousands of dollars.

Avoiding the high cost of a DDoS attack will keep your business running smoothly. It can't be left to chance. The right DDoS protected hosting will make all the difference and may just save your company.

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