What are Layer 7 attacks?
Most DDoS attacks involve a sudden surge of malicious traffic directed at your website or application. This surge in traffic is rapid, typically originates from a small number of sources, and is easy to detect, block, and mitigate. These attacks can target a specific site or an entire hosting provider.
The difference between most DDoS attacks and Layer 7 DDoS attacks lies in the source and speed of the traffic. Layer 7 attacks use a much broader network and lower speeds. They are designed to look like normal traffic. For example, instead of coming from a small number of sources, the traffic is distributed across thousands or millions of sources. This is also known as an HTTP flood.
How do Layer 7 attacks affect WordPress sites on Shifter?
Layer 7 attacks designed to target WordPress are known to exploit Ping, the WP REST API, and other features. Attacks on these services do not affect WordPress sites hosted on Shifter for several reasons.
Shifter delivers and hosts a completely static version of your WordPress site. This static HTML, JS, and CSS version does not respond to or support Ping, POST, or REST API requests. In other words, Layer 7 attacks do not affect Shifter sites.
What about Layer 3 and 4 attacks?
Shifter also protects sites from these attacks. All sites we host come with DDoS protection against these types of attacks. This feature is enabled by default at no additional cost.
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