Advanced DDoS protection with reCaptcha at web server level
All our hosting services include multiple layers of security: Imunify360, an advanced firewall, malware detection, protection against brute-force attacks and many other measures that work automatically and transparently. However, there are specific situations where these systems can't clearly tell legitimate traffic from malicious traffic, especially with sophisticated bots or very elaborate distributed attacks.
For these exceptional cases, we have developed a new feature that lets you enable DDoS protection with Google reCaptcha directly from your client area. This tool adds an extra layer of verification at web server level when the automatic measures aren't enough.
When do you need this extra protection?
Manual DDoS protection is meant for very specific moments when your domains are being attacked in a way our automatic measures can't fully resolve. For example, when your site receives thousands of simultaneous requests from very sophisticated bots that imitate human behaviour, or when you suffer massive scraping attacks that saturate the server's resources.
Previously, in this situation, you had to open a support ticket and wait for our technical team to set up reCaptcha protection on the server manually. Now you can enable it yourself from the panel in a matter of seconds.
When you enable protection for a domain, the system makes the firewall more restrictive and also applies Google reCaptcha at web server level. This means every visitor who accesses your site for the first time is verified automatically, but intelligently: search engine bots such as Google or Bing get straight through without verification, keeping your SEO intact.
Legitimate human visitors usually won't even notice the reCaptcha, as the system redirects them automatically after a transparent verification. The traditional reCaptcha is only shown when the system detects suspicious behaviour. Once verified, the user won't see any check again for 15 days.
A tool for exceptional cases
It's important to understand that this feature is designed for specific situations and shouldn't be left on permanently. Our automatic security systems are very effective in 99% of cases, and this extra protection should only be used when you experience specific problems that require manual intervention.
The main advantage is that you now have immediate control over this protection. If you detect an attack in progress or unusual behaviour on your site, you can enable protection instantly without waiting for our support team to set up the system.
You'll find more details on how to use this new feature in our DDoS protection manual.