With the data centers of major organizations being hacked left and right these days, there may seem to be little anyone can do to protect IT security and assure compliance. But Incapsula says there are actually a lot of steps that even small and medium businesses should take to provide better security, and it has released a free guide tailored to addressing one of the most common kinds of breaches, DDoS attacks.

To be sure, DDoS attacks, which entail crashing websites or cloud-based apps by pummeling servers with more traffic than they can handle, are not quite as serious as the database breaches that have made the biggest headlines recently following the capture of millions of people's personal data from companies such as JP Morgan and Home Depot. But DDoS still wreaks plenty of havoc, and can be just as unsettling to users and customers as data-privacy breaches.

In its recent publication on this issue, the "DDoS Response Playbook," Incapsula says there's little SMBs can do to prevent DDoS attacks from occuring. Instead, the key is to prepare a competent response for when the inevitable happens, according to the company. In particular, that means:

Incapsula also advises SMBs to work in partnership with their ISPs to help prevent attacks, though again, the company, which provides security services and failover protection, emphasizes that preparing a good plan for responding to attacks is more effective than focusing on preventing them altogether.

The full report is available as a free download (though Incapsula asks for registration information).