Distributed Denial of Service, or DDOS, attacks had been a nightmare for all types of organizations, and guarding against DDOS has become a crucial prerequisite for keeping websites online and preventing business loss.
A DDOS attack is comparable to a spontaneous traffic jam clogging up a highway, throwing all traffic out of gear, and causing chaos, disruption, and panic.
In this type of cyberattack, a targeted server will be inundated with huge volumes of false requests, leading to the breakdown of the server’s capacity to process the humongous traffic and sinking even the legitimate requests.
Multi-cloud and hybrid landscapes face many types of security challenges, including DDOS attacks. Most DDOS attacks emanate from compromised computer systems and networked IoT devices.
Cloud has many benefits, some risks too
The cloud environment has been hailed for its manifold benefits, such as flexibility and scalability, in most areas, including data storage and seamless online presence.
However, the broadening cloud infrastructure is also facing many risks, including DDOS attacks, warranting vigilance and preparedness and having robust DDOS protection measures in place.
One example will suffice. The persistent HTTP/2-based DDOS attack in August 2024 had requests of more than 398 million per second. This explains the gravity of the threat and the importance of well-resourced protection providers.
Why Stopping DDoS Attacks Is Important
Business organizations have to safeguard their revenue and brand reputation and avoid costly downtime. For this, they need to work with efficient DDOS mitigation partners. This is imperative to sustain customer trust and display a commitment to enhanced cybersecurity and data protection.
In safeguarding and firefighting against any DDOS attack, hiring the most qualified mitigation provider is crucial. The best mitigation provider will fulfill the right technical requirements, such as ample network capacity, processing capacity, scalability, flexibility, and reliability.
Methods to mitigate DDOS attacks
The expert attack mitigation providers will have custom methods to apply depending on the nature of the DDOS attacks. One of them is managing Name System (DNS)-based DDOS attacks.
Adequate network capacity is crucial for the mitigation provider, as it must block the large volume of false traffic during an attack. For example, if a mitigation provider’s network can handle 1 tbps (1 terabit per second), it may be successful at blocking the heavy DDoS traffic by absorbing the sporadic traffic.
Processing capacity: The processing capacity of a DDOS mitigation provider is an important variable signalling the capability to process vast data in no time. For example, just assume that a massive DDOS attack is coming at a rate of 75 million packets per second (Mpps) and the DDOS mitigation provider has only 65 Mpps capacity; then you can imagine how vulnerable the situation is.
Scalability: The mitigation service provider must be flexible and scalable as attack sizes keep growing and shrinking. If the DDOS mitigation provider is stagnant and unable to expand network or processing capacity, it will be unable to prevent larger attacks in the future.
Flexibility: It implies not just rebutting viral threats but keeping the system in readiness to tackle and recognize attacks at an early stage, noticing the large fluctuations in legitimate traffic.
One method is enforcing page rules that differentiate between actual traffic and false traffic and to pre-empt the DDOS attack. Then these rules have to be in place across the network.
As noted already, huge vulnerabilities exist in cloud environments, especially at the application layer, testing its limits, as on-premise DDOS defenses are inadequate.
Simply put, cloud-based DDOS protection as a security solution is better equipped to repulse DDOS attacks. They use distributed cloud resources to detect, mitigate, and absorb DDOS traffic in advance before they cripple the server, network, or application where the traditional on-premise DDOS protection is weak and depends on physical hardware and other local resources.
Benefits of Cloud-Based DDoS Protection
There are proven cloud-based DDOS protection providers who are well equipped with unparalleled scalability. Cloud-based solutions are ahead with advanced threat detection and mitigation techniques. Using ML algorithms and analytics, they stay ahead.
Another highlight is cost advantage. The cloud DDOS protection providers deliver cost-effective services compared to the capital-intensive on-premises solutions. Also, cloud-based services charge with the pay-as-you-go model, offering flexibility in managing costs.
So, be wise in your choice; go for cloud DDOS mitigation providers who are specialists and are different from those with a limited focus in DDOS protection.
In short
Picking the right cloud-based DDoS protection helps keep your business safe, running smoothly, and free from downtime. That’s why companies should choose expert providers with strong, flexible systems to stop attacks before they cause harm.
