If visiting a website opens a Cloudflare page, let’s find out what it means and why this window appears.
Some sites show a screen linked to Cloudflare upon opening and, only after a few seconds, it will be possible to access the actual site without further obstacles. Many users think this screen is a threat or has a problem with the original page open, but it actually shows in action one of the most effective methods of blocking cyber attacks by some unscrupulous hackers.In the following discussion we will find out what it is Cloudflarewhat benefits does it bring to sites that decide to rely on it to secure the connection and how the anti-DDoS filterone of the reasons why you can find the Cloudflare screen before opening a website.
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What is Cloudflare
Cloudflare is a company that provides a content distribution network (also called CDN). Those who use its services can count on a fast server system to distribute the contents of a website around the world, decreasing the load on the server where the site is hosted. With Cloudflare we can therefore withstand the load of many users connected to our site without having to upgrade the chosen server, since most of the contents of our site are provided in the cache provided by the service (which is interposed between the server and the users who connect now).
Cloudflare is just one of many CDNs used by businesses and websites around the world and its own basic operation is transparent: no user notices his presence, unless the main site replies (the site is down for one reason or another) or if we choose to integrate an additional safety system (payable).
Cloudflare also provides a very fast and responsive DNS (domain name server) service, which can be easily integrated on both phones and PCs; to learn more about this topic we can read our guides Set up DNS on Android and iPhone with the Cloudflare app 1.1.1.1 e 5 faster and safer DNS addresses to protect your internet connection.
Cloudflare Anti-DDoS Protection
Many learn about Cloudflare not for DNS or CDN, but for additional Anti-DDoS protection serviceof which we can deepen the details from the official website.
This technology allows you to protect websites and the services associated with it from DDoS attacks, one of the most widespread plagues of the Internet, to which all sites (large and small) must be able to react to avoid saturating server resources and completely block access to our site.
With a DDoS attack (often carried on with zombie computer of a Botnetas seen in the link at the beginning of the article) the attackers connect to the targeted server hundreds, thousands or millions of users simultaneously, with the task of continuously downloading data: this leads the server of our site to quickly saturate the resources, slowing down the connection of normal users and preventing access to entire areas of the site. Many sites and services on the Internet have been completely blocked for hours or days due to DDoS attacks!
In order to mitigate the impact of DDoS attacks, all web server providers provide a protection system but Cloudflare boasts one of the most effective ways to effectively nullify this type of attack: the protection covers 3 levels of the TCP / IP protocol, the caching system is strengthened in the event of numerous simultaneous accesses and, in the event of an attack, a warning window with CAPTCHA is generated for all userscapable of rendering Zombie PCs useless (which in fact cannot access and saturate resources).
How to pass Cloudflare checks
If we visit a site that has the Cloudflare DDoS protectionoften we will only see an information window, with a loading system lasting a few seconds: in this case we do not have to do anything but wait a few seconds until the site opens.
If we see this type of control, the site is not yet under DDoS attack or is registering a high number of accesses but still under control, thus managing to operate well at the caching level to prevent web resources from being saturated.
If, on the other hand, the attack is already in progress Cloudflare will take care of maintaining the continuity of the service by showing, to each new connected user, a warning window with a dedicated CAPTCHA.
This screen cannot be cleared by Zombie PCs, as human intervention is required to proceed. If we run into this window, all we have to do is press on the square next to the item I am not a robot O I’m not a robot, pass the visual inspection provided by the system (we will have to identify the requested object in the various images that will appear) and, if so, we will have the opportunity to access the website we have requested.
On PC we can speed up the CAPTCHA check by moving the mouse in all directions after pressing on the square: the system should be able to read the mouse input and recognize ourselves as humansthus allowing you to pass the security check without having to find the indicated objects.
The anti-DDoS security system works both from PC and from browsers for smartphones / tablets: changing devices will not allow us to bypass the control, just as it is useless to reload the page in the hope of bypassing the Cloudflare screen and immediately opening the site we requested.
Conclusions
Cloudflare is a very effective tool for making websites of any size fast and accessible, without having to spend money on a very large server. Among the merits of him we also find one of the most effective anti-DDoS systems on the market, which protect sites from hacker attacks, adding a security window when we open a new site: in fact nothing changes for us, but we will still have to wait a few more seconds to open the requested website or, in case of attack , we will also have to fill in the CAPTCHA to be able to continue. This is the price to pay to keep hackers out and guarantee a site that is always online, reachable even with a lot of network traffic.
Still on the subject of CAPTCHA and site security checks, we invite you to read how to overcome the ReCAPTCHA quickly in the login to the sites.