
We recently completed a critical project aimed at securing the National Car Washing Self-Support Service, a nationwide car wash point service provider. The service had been targeted by malicious actors, resulting in disruptive DDoS attacks and data loss. Our task was to mitigate these security threats, restore lost data, and implement long-term protective measures. Here’s how we successfully accomplished this:
1. Blocking Malicious DDoS Attacks
The National Car Washing Service was experiencing repeated DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks, leading to frequent downtime and service interruptions. Our response included:
- Traffic analysis and attack identification: We monitored incoming traffic to identify malicious patterns and isolate the sources of the attacks.
- DDoS mitigation tools: We deployed advanced DDoS mitigation techniques using a combination of cloud-based security tools and network-level defenses to filter out bad traffic while allowing legitimate users uninterrupted access to the service.
- Firewall configuration: We implemented a more robust firewall setup with enhanced rulesets designed to detect and prevent future attacks.
2. Data Recovery from Backups
One of the critical issues the service faced was data loss, resulting from an attack that compromised key business data. Our recovery process involved:
- Backup recovery: We quickly assessed the damage and identified the most recent viable backup of the destroyed data.
- Restoring critical systems: After locating the backup, we worked to restore essential business data, including customer information, transaction logs, and operational data, ensuring that service could resume with minimal downtime.
- Automating backup processes: To prevent future data loss, we implemented an automated backup system that ensures continuous, real-time data backups, stored securely off-site for easy recovery if needed again.
3. Switching Resources to Cloudflare
To enhance the long-term security and performance of the National Car Washing Service’s web-based system, we moved critical resources to Cloudflare, a leading CDN and security service provider. The benefits included:
- DDoS protection: Cloudflare’s built-in DDoS mitigation automatically deflected large-scale attacks, ensuring the site remained accessible even under heavy traffic.
- Web Application Firewall (WAF): We configured Cloudflare’s WAF to protect the application from further security threats such as SQL injections, cross-site scripting (XSS), and other vulnerabilities.
- Global content delivery: Cloudflare’s CDN services accelerated the website’s performance by caching and distributing content across its global network, providing faster access for users while reducing the load on the core servers.
Results & Impact
- Successful attack mitigation: The combination of DDoS blocking and Cloudflare’s defenses resulted in 100% uptime, with no further service disruptions.
- Data recovery and protection: We restored all critical data and ensured a robust backup system, protecting against future data loss.
- Improved website performance: With Cloudflare in place, the service not only became more secure but also faster and more reliable for end-users, resulting in a smoother experience at all national car wash points.
This project reinforced the National Car Washing Service’s infrastructure, ensuring its operations could continue securely and efficiently without the threat of further disruptions from malicious activity.