How do I protect my website from DDoS attacks?

Use Cloudflare's proxy network with WAF rules, rate limiting at 100 req/min per IP, Bot Fight Mode, and geo-fencing. Never expose your origin server IP publicly.

How do I prevent malware on my website?

Run daily file integrity monitoring with Sucuri or AIDE, audit npm/composer dependencies weekly, enforce HTTPS with HSTS, set strict Content Security Policy headers, use SSH key authentication, and maintain 30-day encrypted off-server backups.

Website Security Strategy

Layer 1

DDoS Protection

🛡️ Cloudflare (Free → Pro)

Put your entire domain behind Cloudflare. Enable Under Attack Mode during incidents. Set WAF rules to block SQL injection, XSS, and bad bots automatically.

🌐 DNS-Level Protection

Your origin server's real IP address should never be exposed publicly — always proxy traffic through Cloudflare instead, with every DNS record orange-clouded. Turning on DNSSEC adds one more layer, making it much harder for anyone to hijack your DNS.

⚡ Rate Limiting Rules

# Nginx rate limiting
limit_req_zone $binary_remote_addr
  zone=global:10m rate=100r/m;
limit_req zone=global burst=20 nodelay;
limit_req_status 429;

🚫 IP Blocking & Geo-Fencing

Use Cloudflare Firewall Rules to block known bad IP ranges, Tor exit nodes, and high-risk ASNs. Challenge requests with Threat Score > 10 via JS challenge.

Layer 2

Application Security (WAF & Headers)

🔒 HTTP Security Headers

# Nginx server {} block
add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN";
add_header X-Content-Type-Options "nosniff";
add_header Referrer-Policy "strict-origin-when-cross-origin";
add_header Strict-Transport-Security
  "max-age=31536000; includeSubDomains; preload";
add_header Content-Security-Policy
  "default-src 'self'; frame-ancestors 'none';";

🛡️ WAF Rules (Cloudflare)

Enable the Cloudflare Managed Ruleset + OWASP Core Ruleset. Block requests with no User-Agent, path traversal (../), and threat scores above 10.

🔑 SSL / TLS Hardening

# Nginx TLS hardening
ssl_protocols TLSv1.2 TLSv1.3;
ssl_prefer_server_ciphers on;
ssl_ciphers ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:
            ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256;
ssl_stapling on;
ssl_stapling_verify on;

📝 Form Security

Every form on this site has several layers of protection working together: a hidden honeypot field that traps bots, client-side validation, spam filtering, rate limiting, and server-side sanitization of anything submitted.

Layer 3

Malware Prevention

🔍 File Integrity Monitoring

Use Sucuri SiteCheck, Wordfence (WordPress), or AIDE (Linux) to detect file changes. Run daily scans and alert on any modification to core files.

📦 Dependency Security

Audit all npm/composer packages weekly. Use npm audit, Snyk, or GitHub Dependabot to catch vulnerable packages before they become exploits.

💾 Automated Backups

Run daily encrypted backups to an off-server location (S3, R2, or Backblaze B2). Retain 30-day rolling backups. Test restores monthly.

📡 Monitoring & Alerts

UptimeRobot for uptime, Sentry for errors, Cloudflare analytics for traffic spikes (DDoS signal), Google Search Console security alerts enabled.

Layer 4 — Incident Response

4-Step Incident Response Plan

Detect

Uptime alert fires or GSC malware warning. Check Cloudflare analytics for traffic anomalies.

Contain

Enable "Under Attack" mode. Block offending IPs. Take site to maintenance mode if compromised.

Eradicate

Restore from last clean backup. Remove malicious files. Rotate ALL passwords and API keys.

Recover

Verify clean state with Sucuri scan. Request GSC malware review. Monitor for 72 hours post-recovery.