The Problem
Circular Materials came to us with a crisis. A newly launched website built by a third-party developer had been deployed to our hosting server—and it was under attack. The site had been compromised, and malicious bot traffic was overwhelming the infrastructure.
The situation was deteriorating rapidly:
- The website had been successfully hacked, creating security vulnerabilities
- Server was being hammered with 17,000 bot hits per day
- Website performance had degraded to near-unusable levels
- Critical features were failing or performing erratically
- Support requests were escalating as users experienced issues
- The compromised site posed ongoing security risks to both the business and its users
Our Approach
This was a rescue mission requiring immediate action on multiple fronts. We needed to simultaneously address the security breach, stop the bot attack, and restore normal operations—all while minimizing downtime for the business.
Comprehensive Security Audit
Conducted thorough analysis of the website software to identify all vulnerabilities and entry points that had been exploited in the hack.
Hardening & Remediation
Systematically strengthened security across the application, closing vulnerabilities and removing malicious code introduced during the breach.
Infrastructure Protection
Implemented CloudFlare premium services as a protective layer, filtering malicious traffic before it reached the origin server.
The Solution
We implemented a multi-layered security and performance solution that addressed both immediate threats and long-term stability. The focus was on stopping the attack, securing the application, and ensuring it wouldn't happen again.
Comprehensive Security Audit
Conducted deep analysis of the codebase and server configuration to identify all vulnerabilities, backdoors, and weaknesses that allowed the initial breach.
Vulnerability Remediation
Systematically patched security holes, removed malicious code, updated vulnerable dependencies, and hardened the application against future attacks.
CloudFlare Premium Implementation
Deployed CloudFlare's enterprise-grade security services to create a protective barrier, filtering malicious traffic and bot attacks before they reach the origin server.
Bot Mitigation & Traffic Filtering
Configured intelligent bot detection and filtering rules to block the 17,000+ daily malicious requests while allowing legitimate traffic through.
Performance Optimization
Leveraged CloudFlare's CDN and caching capabilities to dramatically improve page load times and reduce server load, even under legitimate high traffic.
Ongoing Monitoring & Protection
Established continuous security monitoring to detect and respond to threats in real-time, providing long-term peace of mind.
The Results
The security intervention was successful. Server traffic stabilized immediately after implementing the CloudFlare protection layer, dropping the malicious bot traffic from 17,000 hits per day to negligible levels.
Website performance and features resumed working as expected, restoring normal user experience and business operations. With the site secured and performing optimally, support requests decreased significantly as users no longer encountered the issues caused by the compromised system.
The client now has a secure, stable platform protected by enterprise-grade security infrastructure that can detect and mitigate threats before they impact operations.