Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are a type of cyber-attack that involves overwhelming a server, network or website with a flood of traffic or requests, rendering it unavailable to legitimate users. To reduce the impact of (DDoS) attacks, the following security controls can be implemented:
Network firewalls:
Stateful inspection firewall: This type of firewall filters traffic by inspecting the state of the connection and the application layer information to determine if it is legitimate or malicious. It can also block traffic from known malicious IP addresses, helping to prevent DDoS attacks.
Next-generation firewall: This type of firewall combines traditional stateful inspection with advanced features such as intrusion prevention, application control, and threat intelligence to provide comprehensive protection against DDoS attacks.
Cloud-based firewall: This type of firewall is hosted in the cloud and can provide protection against DDoS attacks by filtering traffic before it reaches the target network. It can also be scaled up or down as needed to handle changes in traffic volume.
Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS):
Signature-based IPS: This type of IPS uses known patterns of attacks to identify and block malicious traffic in real-time. It can be effective against DDoS attacks that use known attack vectors.
Behavior-based IPS: This type of IPS analyzes traffic patterns and detects anomalies that may indicate a DDoS attack. It can be effective against new or unknown attack vectors.
Host-based IPS: This type of IPS is installed on individual servers or endpoints and can detect and block DDoS traffic at the host level, helping to prevent attacks from reaching the network.
Load balancing:
Round-robin load balancing: This type of load balancing distributes traffic across multiple servers in a rotating fashion, ensuring that no single server is overloaded with traffic.
Least-connections load balancing: This type of load balancing directs traffic to the server with the fewest active connections, helping to distribute traffic evenly across all servers.
Geographic load balancing: This type of load balancing routes traffic to the server closest to the user, reducing latency and helping to prevent DDoS attacks that target specific regions.
Content Delivery Networks (CDNs):
Akamai: Akamai is a popular CDN that provides DDoS protection by using a distributed network of servers to absorb and filter malicious traffic.
Cloudflare: Cloudflare is another popular CDN that provides DDoS protection by using a global network of data centers to filter traffic and provide additional security features such as SSL encryption and web application firewall.
Amazon CloudFront: Amazon CloudFront is a CDN that provides DDoS protection by using a global network of edge locations to cache and serve content closer to users, reducing the impact of DDoS attacks.
Rate limiting:
Connection rate limiting: This type of rate limiting limits the number of incoming connections per second, preventing attackers from overwhelming the network with a flood of connection requests.
Bandwidth rate limiting: This type of rate limiting limits the amount of traffic that can be sent or received by the network, preventing attackers from using up all available bandwidth with malicious traffic.
Application rate limiting: This type of rate limiting limits the number of requests per second that can be sent to a specific application, preventing attackers from overwhelming the application with traffic.
BONUS
Black hole routing:
BGP black hole routing: BGP black hole routing is a technique that allows network administrators to divert DDoS traffic to a black hole router, effectively dropping the traffic and preventing it from reaching the target network.
Null routing: Null routing is a technique that allows network administrators to divert DDoS traffic to a null interface or an IP address that does not exist, effectively dropping the traffic and preventing it from reaching the target network.
Sinkholing: Sinkholing is a technique that involves redirecting DDoS traffic to a controlled network or server where the traffic can be analyzed and filtered, helping to prevent the attack from reaching the target network
Implementing a combination of these security controls can help to reduce the impact of DDoS attacks and ensure that critical services remain available to legitimate users.
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