In September 2016, popular website specialized in online trading education, FairBinaryOptions.com experienced a series of attacks on their main website which forced them not only to switch their focus and business model, but also to implement CDN changes in order to deliver superior user-experience
Here is their story that can be used as amazing case study for all website who experience the same difficulties.
“Fair Binary Options was always the website that put fairness in the first place. We tried to established ourselves as opinion makers in all things binary-related. Of course, doing reviews of binary brokers was a great part of our image as we had a great system of grading them, and also several lists: top list, black list, regulated list, etc.
We always put a lot of effort into communication with our readers, helping them in cases when they couldn’t get a withdrawal or encountered a scam. We also have active customer support. However, our business model was not something scams appreciated.
Even though we blacklisted over 80 brands, one brand caused us a lot of trouble and forced us to rethink our business strategy and safety. After we found out the broker was avoiding paying their partners and customers, we decided to put them on a blacklist as this type of behaviour is unacceptable. This is usually the sign that the broker is either mismanaging the money, or will soon be bankrupt.
Almost immediately after the story was published, our website Fair Binary Options experienced an attack unlike ever before. Due to over 20 billion requests towards our domain, our readers were unable to access it. It is impossible to claim that the broker stands behind these attacks, but it is indicative that they pointed out how they will do everything in order to protect their reputation. Does it mean that they will attack the website that found out the real truth? Possibly.
The first step we took after this unpleasant experience is implementation of CDN, or content delivery network.
It is when servers nearest to the visitor respond to their request and deliver cached content. Servers are dispersed to several locations, and the one closest to the visitor responds. If there is new content or no cached content, the server communicates with originating server.
This method proved to be perfect solutions for all similar attacks we experienced. Our global audience experienced amazingly fast and improved loading of content, while we managed to block data scrappers and level of spam. This method has now become a cornerstone of our business.
It helped us increase the level of user-experience and helped us continue being market leaders, as well as prevent situations where users can’t access content on our website. As we have audience from all over the world, global accessibility is or no. 1 concern.
It is something we would definitely recommend to any website that has global audience and wants additional level of security.”
This story should be an inspiration to everyone looking for improvements in their website, but also a warning that sometimes one attack can cause a great level of damage, when you at least hope.