Scaling up DDoS defenses
Combating larger, more sophisticated attacks with the cloud
Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks have become larger, more prevalent, and more sophisticated, posing a significant threat to the availability and performance of online services. These attacks aim to disrupt or disable Internet services — such as websites and mobile applications — by overwhelming the target server, network, or service with excessive traffic. The influx of malicious requests prevents the server from processing legitimate user interactions, rendering it inaccessible to genuine users.
With the growing reliance on digital services to support customers, partners, and employees, ensuring resilience against DDoS attacks is critical. And unfortunately, on-premises solutions are no match for the latest types of attacks. Cloud-based security solutions offer a robust defense mechanism, providing scalable, flexible, and cost-effective protection.
DDoS protection works by identifying, mitigating, and blocking malicious traffic aimed at overwhelming a network or application. By using a cloud provider’s vast and scalable infrastructure, cloud-based DDoS services can detect and mitigate large volumes of malicious traffic designed to overwhelm targeted systems. This protection is automatic, scalable, and often globally distributed, allowing for a swift response to attacks and helping to ensure service availability even under significant threats.
Facing the escalating threat of DDoS attacks
DDoS attacks are not new, but their scope, intensity, and frequency have dramatically evolved over recent years. These attacks have moved beyond mere disruptions, posing serious risks to business continuity, brand reputation, and customer trust.
According to the State of Application Security 2024 Report, DDoS remains the most commonly exploited threat vector targeting web applications and APIs, accounting for 37.1% of all application traffic mitigated by Cloudflare. Attacks target organizations across multiple industries, including gaming and gambling, IT and Internet services, cryptocurrency, computer software, and marketing and advertising.
Over the past few years, these organizations have been subjected to larger and larger attacks. In 2024, Cloudflare mitigated the largest DDoS attack reported (up to that date). The attack, which lasted 80 seconds, reached 5.6 terabits per second (Tbps) and 666 million packets per second at its peak. And it was not an isolated event: The attack was part of an ongoing campaign of hyper-volumetric DDoS attacks.
Maybe not surprisingly, many organizations struggle to implement and manage solutions that can effectively address DDoS attacks. Some simply have limited IT resources and expertise. Budgetary constraints can also hinder the ability to invest in comprehensive DDoS solutions. Some organizations lack awareness of the risks posed by DDoS attacks and the importance of adopting effective protection measures.
While traditional on-premises security infrastructures have been effective in the past, they often struggle to cope with the sheer scale of modern DDoS attacks, especially those targeting cloud-based services and multi-tenant environments. This is where cloud-based DDoS mitigation solutions come into play.
Understanding the advantages of cloud-based DDoS protection
Cloud-based DDoS protection services offer the only real option for combating today’s sophisticated, large-scale DDoS attacks — here are just some of the advantages organizations experience with cloud-based DDoS protection over traditional on-premises solutions:
Scalability and flexibility: Cloud-based DDoS mitigation services can leverage the extensive infrastructure of cloud providers to efficiently absorb and mitigate large-scale attacks, ensuring smooth and continuous service availability.
Advanced threat detection and mitigation: These services tend to incorporate advanced techniques, such as machine learning algorithms and behavioral analytics, to detect and respond to sophisticated application-layer DDoS attacks.
Global distribution: The global distribution of cloud-based services allows attacks to be mitigated much closer to their origin, reducing chances of latency and improving service delivery to legitimate users.
Cost-efficiency: Cloud-based services often use the vast resources of their providers and tend to operate on a pay-as-you-go model, offering a greater scale of flexibility in managing costs.
Implementing cloud-based DDoS protection services
Implementing these cloud-based DDoS services involves several key steps. First, an organization should conduct a thorough assessment of its specific needs, analyzing traffic patterns, identifying critical assets, and pinpointing potential vulnerabilities. Based on these insights, the organization can select a cloud provider and, DDoS protection services that align with their requirements.
A DDoS protection service should not become just another point solution, adding complexity to an already complicated security environment. To create a cohesive defense strategy, organizations must integrate cloud-based DDoS services with existing security infrastructure, such as firewalls, VPNs, and identity management systems. Ongoing traffic monitoring of traffic and regular configuration adjustments further optimize protection, ensuring resilience against evolving threats.
Envisioning the future of DDoS protection
The number of DDoS attacks continues to rise, jeopardizing the availability of critical websites and web applications. Fortunately, cloud-based DDoS protection services offer a robust defense against the growing number and size of attacks. According to a recent DDoS Threat Report, Cloudflare mitigated nearly 6 million DDoS attacks during FY24Q3 alone.
The future of cloud-based DDoS protection will see significant advancements with the integration of AI and machine learning, allowing for real-time threat detection and adaptive mitigation strategies. As hybrid and multi-cloud environments become more common, there will be a shift toward unified security solutions that provide seamless protection across diverse platforms.
Enhanced threat intelligence will enable cloud providers to anticipate and defend against increasingly sophisticated attacks, while the adoption of Zero Trust architectures will offer more granular traffic control and verification. Additionally, cost-effective, subscription-based models will make advanced DDoS protection more accessible to a broader range of organizations.
Cloudflare offers robust cloud-based DDoS protection that can mitigate the largest, most advanced attacks and help keep your websites and applications online. With 348 Tbps of network capacity, Cloudflare can mitigate even the largest DDoS attacks without slowing down performance for your users.
This article is part of a series on the latest trends and topics impacting today’s technology decision-makers.
This article was originally produced for CIO Tech Gig
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Key takeaways
After reading this article you will be able to understand:
How DDoS attacks have out smarted legacy prevention methods
The advantages that cloud brings to DDoS security
What the future of DDoS protection may look like