A Reliable Website Infrastructure Designed to Prevent Attacks, Reduce Downtime & Deliver a Stable User Experience
One of our clients was facing repeated website downtime due to malicious traffic and attacks. This affected website availability and created a poor experience for students, visitors, and prospective applicants.
Our goal was not just to bring the website back online, but to find the root cause, improve the website infrastructure, and protect it from similar attacks in the future.
How We Investigated
- We first analyzed the website’s downtime and server performance issues.
- We reviewed server logs and traffic patterns to identify unusual and automated requests.
- We scanned the website and WordPress environment for possible security issues and attack patterns.
- We identified the type of traffic that was putting excessive load on the website.
- We also reviewed the existing hosting setup and its ability to handle sudden traffic spikes.
Root Cause
- The website was receiving a high volume of unwanted and automated traffic.
- These attacks were sending repeated requests to the website and putting heavy load on the server.
- The origin server IP was directly exposed, making it easier for attackers to target the server.
- The existing hosting environment was not providing enough protection and stability against these traffic spikes.
- As a result, the website was becoming slow and, at times, going down.
Our Solution
- Moved the website to WP Engine: We migrated the website to WP Engine, a reliable WordPress hosting platform, to provide better server performance, stability, and security.
- Added Cloudflare: We placed Cloudflare in front of the website to create an additional protection layer between visitors and the origin server.
- Masked the Origin IP: CloudFront helped hide the actual origin server IP, making it much harder for attackers to directly target the server.
- Scanned and Monitored Attacks: We scanned the website and reviewed traffic patterns to identify unwanted bots, automated requests, and potential attack sources.
- Prevented Unwanted Traffic: We implemented appropriate security and traffic-control measures to reduce malicious and unnecessary requests before they could put excessive load on the website.
- Improved Server Stability: The combination of CloudFront and WP Engine reduced direct pressure on the origin server and created a more stable hosting environment.
Result
- The website became more stable and reliable.
- Direct exposure of the origin server IP was removed.
- Unwanted and automated traffic was better controlled.
- The origin server received significantly less unnecessary traffic.
- The website was better protected against sudden traffic spikes and similar attacks.
- Overall, the website infrastructure became more secure, stable, and capable of handling genuine visitors.
The Value We Delivered
Client Challenge: Repeated website downtime caused by unwanted and malicious traffic.
Investigation: Analyzed server logs, traffic patterns, WordPress environment, and hosting infrastructure.
Root Cause: High-volume automated traffic and direct exposure of the origin server.
Solution: Migrated to WP Engine and implemented Cloudflare protection and traffic control.
Security: Reduced direct exposure of the origin server and controlled unwanted requests.
Performance: Reduced unnecessary pressure on the origin server.
Result: A more secure, stable, and reliable high-traffic website.
