You have a business website. Maybe a WordPress site with your portfolio, an online store serving customers daily, or a membership site with a community. Everything runs — until it doesn't.
According to the Dutch government's Digital Trust Center (DTC), over 40% of SMBs in the Netherlands faced some form of cyber attack in 2026. And the most underestimated threat? The DDoS attack.
In this article, you'll learn why DDoS protection is no longer a luxury for SMB web hosting, what your options are, and why Retslav offers a unique combination of hosting and security in one package.
What Exactly Is a DDoS Attack?
A DDoS attack (Distributed Denial of Service) overwhelms a website or server with so much fake traffic that legitimate visitors can't get through. Imagine having a storefront, but thousands of people block the entrance without buying anything. Real customers can't enter.
In recent years, these attacks have not only grown larger (Retslav mitigated a 9 Tbps peak earlier this year — enough to take a small country offline) but also become more frequent and cheaper to launch. For a few dozen euros, you can rent a botnet for an hour.
Why SMBs Are at Risk
Many business owners think: "Why would anyone attack me? I'm not a bank or government agency." The reality is that 68% of all DDoS attacks target SMBs. The reasons:
- Extortion: Criminals take your site offline and demand ransom.
- Competition: Unfortunately, competitors sometimes take each other offline during campaigns or sales periods.
- Collateral damage: Your web host is attacked, and all sites on the same server go down — including yours.
- Activism: You do something a group disagrees with.
The damage? Expect €8,000 to €25,000 per incident in lost revenue, recovery costs, and reputational damage. For a small business, that can be fatal.
What Do Regular Web Hosts Offer?
Most Dutch web hosts (like Strato, TransIP, Versio, Yourhosting) offer standard hosting with basic security: a firewall, SSL certificate, daily backups. But real DDoS mitigation? It's often completely missing, or an expensive add-on.
Why? Because DDoS protection requires infrastructure: scrubbing centers, high bandwidth, 24/7 monitoring. Most web hosts outsource this or simply don't offer it on shared hosting plans.
The result: during a DDoS attack on a shared server, all websites of all clients go down. And there's little the hosting provider can do — except wait for the attack to stop or block your IP address.
Retslav: Hosting and DDoS Protection in One
Retslav is one of the few Dutch providers that delivers web hosting with built-in enterprise-grade DDoS protection as standard. No add-on, no expensive upgrade — it's included in every plan.
| Plan | Price | Storage | DDoS Protection | Ideal For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | €5/month | 5 GB NVMe | L4 filtering (500 Gbps) | Portfolio, small business site |
| Business | €15/month | 25 GB NVMe | L7+L4 filtering (2 Tbps) | Webshop, membership site |
| Professional | €30/month | 75 GB NVMe | Full L7+L4+L3 filtering | High-traffic sites, custom apps |
What Makes Retslav Different?
- Always-on filtering — Not cloud-based mitigation that only kicks in during an attack, but permanent filtering in Amsterdam and Brussels data centers.
- Dutch data centers — Your data stays in Europe. No GDPR compliance headaches or latency from distant servers.
- No hidden costs — What you see on the site is what you pay. No setup fees, no lock-in contracts.
- 99.99% SLA — Not 'best effort', but guaranteed uptime with compensation if exceeded.
- 24/7 Dutch and English support — You get a real person, not a chatbot.
Why Switch to Hosting with DDoS Protection?
Switching sounds daunting, but the benefits far outweigh the effort:
- No unexpected downtime: Your site stays accessible, even during an attack.
- Peace of mind: You don't need to worry about your hosting's security layer — it's already handled.
- Better SEO: Google penalizes sites with frequent downtime. A stable, fast site ranks higher.
- Customer data protection: When your site goes down during a DDoS attack, attackers can sometimes exploit other entry points. Good mitigation reduces that risk.
How to Switch
Switching hosting providers is easier than you think. Here's the plan:
- Choose a plan at retslav.net/en/pricing that fits your website (Starter €5/month is enough for most SMB sites).
- Create an account in the Retslav Portal — takes 2 minutes.
- Update your domain to point to Retslav's nameservers (we'll help via chat or [email protected]).
- Upload your website files via the dashboard or ask us to handle the migration.
Want to first check how secure your current site is? Use the free security scan at retslav.net/scan. Within minutes, you'll get a report with vulnerabilities and recommendations — completely free.
Conclusion
DDoS attacks are no longer a problem for just large enterprises. Every business owner with a website is at risk. By choosing a hosting provider that builds DDoS protection into every plan — like Retslav — you protect not just your site, but your revenue, reputation, and peace of mind.
Check our plans at retslav.net/en/pricing or start with a free security scan at retslav.net/scan.
Retslav — Your Digital Shield. Dutch company with data centers in Amsterdam and Brussels. KVK: 88614077.