Overview
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks aim to make a target system unavailable by flooding it with traffic from thousands or millions of sources. Assessed in three main categories (volumetric, protocol and application layer), DDoS attacks can affect organizations of any size. Attack volumes keep growing, attack tools are getting cheaper and complex attack vectors are multiplying.
Layer 3-4 (volumetric) DDoS attacks try to saturate bandwidth; UDP floods, ICMP floods and amplification attacks (DNS, NTP, SSDP reflection) fall into this category. Layer 7 (application) attacks, by contrast, are lower in volume and target the web server's resources; HTTP floods, slowloris and API abuse belong to this group. Effective DDoS protection must be able to respond to both categories.
On-premise DDoS protection cannot solve the problem of the internet connection being completely saturated by large volumetric attacks. That is why the core component of enterprise DDoS protection is an "upstream" or "cloud" DDoS mitigation service that filters attack traffic in scrubbing centers before it reaches the customer's infrastructure. Indexline provides expert support in selecting, deploying and operating these services.
DDoS response planning is as important as technical defense. Who does what during an attack, the escalation process, ISP communication channels and management communication must be defined in advance. Since the communication infrastructure itself may also be a DDoS target, out-of-band communication channels should be prepared.
How It Works
Risk Assessment: The organization's risk of becoming a DDoS target, its connection capacity and its critical services are assessed.
Architecture Design: On-premise (appliance), cloud-based or hybrid DDoS protection is selected. A scrubbing center is chosen.
BGP Routing Preparation: Blackhole routing and scrubbing center activation procedures are prepared with the ISP.
Application Layer Protection: WAF integration, rate limiting and challenge mechanisms are configured.
Baselining: The normal traffic profile is learned. Thresholds for DDoS detection are calibrated.
Response Plan: An action plan for the moment of attack is prepared. The escalation matrix and communication procedures are documented.
Drill: A DDoS response drill is carried out. Response time and effectiveness are measured.
Key Features
Cloud Scrubbing
Attack traffic is filtered in scrubbing centers before it reaches your infrastructure. Protection with Tbps-level capacity is provided.
Anycast Network Distribution
Attack traffic is distributed across global PoPs, preventing any single scrubbing point from being overwhelmed.
L3/L4 Mitigation
UDP/TCP floods, ICMP floods and amplification attacks are filtered at hardware speed. Bandwidth saturation attacks are prevented.
L7 Application Protection
HTTP floods, slowloris and bot-based application attacks are blocked through behavioral analysis and challenge mechanisms.
Real-Time Traffic Analysis
Flows deviating from normal traffic are detected within milliseconds. An adaptive rule engine automatically responds to the attack vector.
BGP Blackhole / Flowspec
IPs under attack are blackholed at the upstream ISP level. Flowspec enables granular traffic filtering.
Always-On vs. On-Demand
Continuous protection (always-on) and activation upon attack detection (on-demand) modes offer different cost-protection trade-offs.
Post-Attack Reporting
For every attack, a report covering source analysis, traffic profile and mitigation effectiveness is prepared.
Benefits & Advantages
Critical services remain available even under large volumetric attacks; business continuity is maintained.
Application layer attacks are blocked before they can degrade the user experience.
The cost of DDoS protection stays far below the cost of potential service outages and reputational damage.
Attack drills keep the team prepared for a real attack; the risk of a chaotic response is reduced.
Attack analysis reports help in understanding threat actors and planning preparations for future attacks.
Compliance requirements (ISO 27001) call for a DDoS plan as part of business continuity; this requirement is met.
Industry Use Cases
Finance & Banking
An online banking platform was hit by a Tbps-level DDoS attack during an election period; uninterrupted service was delivered through cloud scrubbing.
E-Commerce
A competitor-originated DDoS attack was launched during a campaign period; with adaptive mitigation, normal traffic resumed within 2 minutes.
Gaming
Game servers became a DDoS target; the player experience was protected through UDP flood mitigation and IP reputation.
Media & Broadcasting
A DDoS attack was launched during the broadcast of a major sporting event; the attack was absorbed through anycast distribution.
Public Sector
A government portal was targeted during an election period; with BGP flowspec and scrubbing, the system continued to serve without interruption.
Telecom
DDoS attacks targeting customer infrastructure were blocked at the upstream level; the customer SLA was maintained.
The Indexline Approach
The most critical decision in designing DDoS protection is the choice between the always-on and on-demand models. Always-on provides continuously active scrubbing; response time is in milliseconds, but the cost is high. On-demand is activated when an attack is detected; the activation time (minutes) must be acceptable. The level of criticality determines this choice.
DDoS protection alone is not enough. Business continuity during an attack is ensured not only by technical mitigation but also by redundant connectivity, geographically distributed infrastructure and operational readiness. Indexline addresses DDoS protection from a holistic business continuity perspective.
Every DDoS attack is a learning opportunity. After an attack, the defense is improved by evaluating the traffic profile, the vectors used and the mitigation effectiveness. This continuous learning cycle makes the protection infrastructure increasingly resilient.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Gbps of DDoS attack do you protect against?
With partner scrubbing networks such as Cloudflare, Akamai and Radware, protection with theoretically unlimited capacity is provided. The practical quota is determined by the customer's plan; protection against terabit-scale attacks is possible.
How long does it take to detect a DDoS attack?
With traffic profile analysis, attacks are usually detected within 60 seconds to 5 minutes. In the always-on model, mitigation starts at the moment of detection. In the on-demand model, an additional 2-5 minutes of activation time applies.
Can legitimate traffic be blocked by mistake?
The risk of false positives is minimized through calibration quality. Traffic baselining, challenge mechanisms (legitimate users pass) and whitelist management prevent incorrect blocking. Even under attack, 99%+ legitimate traffic throughput is targeted.
Is the attack source traceable?
DDoS attacks typically use spoofed IPs or botnets; identifying the real source is very difficult. ISP cooperation and forensic analysis can partially lead to the source, but this requires legal proceedings.
Can a DDoS drill be carried out?
Yes, a controlled DDoS drill (also known as load testing) can be performed in an authorized environment. The drill tests mitigation effectiveness, rehearses response procedures and reveals weak points. It must be carried out outside the production environment.
Is coordination with the ISP required?
Yes, a prior agreement with the ISP is essential for blackhole routing and upstream mitigation. BGP blackhole (RTBH) and ISP scrubbing options should be ready, and communication channels must be kept open during an attack.
Are bot traffic and DDoS handled with the same protection tools?
They partially overlap. Bot management (WAF, bot management) also prevents application layer DDoS. However, volumetric attacks require scrubbing center capacity. The two layers complement each other.
DDoS threats combined with ransomware are on the rise. How do you approach them?
The "DDoS plus ransomware" combination is a growing threat pattern. The attacker spreads ransomware while using DDoS as a distraction. For this scenario, DDoS mitigation, EDR and the incident response plan must work in an integrated way. Our MSS service includes playbooks ready for this scenario.