During the holiday season, there’s always a surge in online traffic, but with the world still in the middle of a pandemic, odds are online retailers will experience traffic spikes in epic proportions this year. In fact, it’s predicted that online shopping will double from 15 to 30% this holiday season—especially since you can find toilet paper online again. If Lysol becomes available things might get completely out of control.

An overloaded network isn’t the only thing that can steal the magic out of the holidays. DDoS attacks were already up by 151% in just the first part of 2020 and historically, hackers choose to be naughty instead of nice and are all too eager to try and “jingle all the way” off with your hard-earned money! 

Who is most at risk for DDoS attacks?

Any business could be affected by unexpected surges in internet traffic or DDoS attacks, but some can be more vulnerable than others. Perhaps one of the most obvious would-be retailers.
Online sales always rise during the holiday season, but due to COVID-19, retailers might want to buckle up and get ready for the ride. A recent report found that 65% of shoppers are still worried about catching the virus and plan to do as much of their shopping online as possible. This means big profits for retailers, but it also means potential digital traffic jams, or worse, becoming victims of extortion from hackers.

Gaming is another industry that can expect a larger than usual volume of traffic. Gaming platforms have already seen a huge spike in activity earlier this year due to worldwide lockdowns, but the industry is predicted to hit a record $13.4 billion in sales this holiday season. Increased activity aside, gaming platforms are also notoriously popular targets for hackers. Apparently, cyber criminals don’t just love sucking the joy out of the holidays, they like shooting down fun like it’s their call of duty.

Another type of business that must be prepared and ready for massive surges in online traffic or attacks are technology, IT, and SaaS companies, like ours, for example. As internet services are the very thing that other businesses rely upon to stay online and running smoothly, you need to make sure you’re not just partnered with some misfits, but also have a “gem” of a DNS provider. Sadly, nothing would give hackers a bigger thrill than wreaking havoc during the 2020 pandemic holiday rush!

Are you prepared for the digital holiday tsunami? 

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List of Authoritative DNS Benefits - Constellix

1. Proven 100% Uptime and Fastest DNS
   Constellix has a proven track record of 100% uptime. With over 100 monitoring nodes and 19 Points of Presence, we’re equipped to answer massive amounts of queries, and faster than any other provider—a must anytime, but especially during peak seasons. Santa’s digital deliveries are in good hands with us!
2. Self-healing Network
   Our network is designed to self-heal and has built-in mitigation and traffic scrubbing. Using real-time data, our servers intelligently route your queries to the smartest and most efficient resource. We’re ready for the pandemic holiday rush. We want you to be too. 
3. Real-time Anomaly Detection
   With our anomaly detection service, you can view your DNS traffic and environment in real-time, and get historical glances at your traffic patterns. You also get real-time alerts for any unusual or suspicious activity so you can block DDoS attacks before they happen. With us, you’ll never be “home alone” for the holidays!
4. Real-user and Synthetic Metrics with Sonar Network Monitoring
   Sonar, our unique and powerful monitoring system, makes intelligent DNS routing decisions on the fly. Not only does it automate monotonous network tasks, it also combines real-user monitoring (RUM) data and synthetic monitoring metrics to automatically verify available resources and updates failover configurations to point to the healthiest resource—all at lightning-fast speeds and 100% uptime. And that’s just a little of Sonar’s magic!
5. IP Filtering
   Don’t want traffic from certain countries or regions? Just like Santa sorts his list, our IP filtering solution lets you sort yours too. You can also get IP specific and choose to block specific addresses. This feature also allows you to specify where responses should go according to which state a user is in. It might not create peace on earth, but it can create peace for your domain!
6. Secondary DNS Options
   Want some back up to ensure all is calm and bright this holiday season? We’re not like the grinch who stole Christmas. We don’t lock you in or prevent you from using other services. Our system is designed from a customer-first perspective. If you want a secondary DNS, Constellix allows you to set up a primary/primary configuration through Terraform and OctoDNS, as well as API integrations with Amazon Route 53, Google Cloud DNS, and Microsoft Azure. If you need a primary/secondary configuration, DNS Made Easy (our sister company) has you covered.
7. DNS Load Balancing and Traffic Steering
   As far as DNS options go, Constellix is like Santa. We’re making a list, checking it twice, and directing traffic depending on which server is naughty or nice. Seriously, though, between our 100% network dependability and speed and other features such as enhanced Failover and intelligent Traffic Steering, you can check off everything on your DNS list in one place! You can even apply your own custom rules based on cost, traffic, user location, and more. With us, the 2020 holiday pandemic rush will be Lionel Richie style—easy like Sunday morning.
8. Multi-CDN Management
   Think you can’t have multiple CDNs or that managing more than one would be too complicated? Think again. We offer a multi-CDN management solution that lets you manage everything in one place. With Multi-CDN, you can avoid having a nightmare before Christmas due to heavier than usual traffic or a DDoS attack, as users will be redirected to another server automatically.

With the right preparation, your network can withstand anything the holiday season throws your way. And we’re here to help you do it. Whether there’s an avalanche of people driven to your site or a cyber Scut Farkas is trying to ruin your Christmas story, we’ll keep you up and going strong. After all, we don’t want you to shoot your eye out, kid.

If you liked this, you might find these helpful:

https://social.dnsmadeeasy.com/blog/dns-made-easy-has-created-a-2020-holiday-dns-checklist-for-your-network/

https://www.emarketer.com/content/us-ecommerce-2020

https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2020/10/15/the-biggest-security-headaches-for-retailers-to-avoid-this-holiday-season/