The global protection setting.
WHAT IT DOES
Determines how aggressively Cloudflare challenges visitors whose reputation is questionable.
THE LEVELS
Essentially off, low, medium, high, and under attack.
Medium is the default and suits most sites.
WHEN TO RAISE IT
During an attack, or when you are receiving sustained abusive traffic.
High challenges more visitors, including some legitimate ones.
UNDER ATTACK MODE
Presents an interstitial page to every visitor for a few seconds before allowing them through.
Effective against an attack in progress and unpleasant for ordinary visitors.
Use it during an incident and turn it off afterwards. People forget, and then wonder why their traffic fell.
WHEN TO LOWER IT
Rarely. If legitimate visitors are being challenged persistently, address that with a rule for the specific case rather than lowering protection globally.
WHAT IT DOES NOT PROTECT AGAINST
Vulnerabilities in your own software. A challenged visitor who passes still reaches a vulnerable plugin.
Cloudflare filters traffic; it does not patch your site.
CHECKING THE EFFECT
Cloudflare's analytics shows how many requests were challenged or blocked.
