We all remember our favorite childhood game of breaking sandcastles, right? Unfortunately, some people never grow out of that phase and, in the digital world, their sandcastles come in the form of websites. Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are the most common way to disrupt online services and bring down websites.
DDoS attacks are malicious attempts to overwhelm web servers, networks, or applications with a flood of traffic to render them inoperable. Traditional DDoS protection involves having hardware or software-based solutions in place to mitigate the attack. However, with the rising number and complexity of DDoS attacks, traditional protection measures are becoming less effective. Cloud-based DDoS protection has emerged as an alternative, which allows organizations to protect against DDoS attacks.
Traditional DDoS Protection
Traditional DDoS protection relies on firewalls, routers, intrusion prevention systems (IPS), and other hardware or software-based solutions to detect and mitigate attacks. These solutions are usually placed on-premises, near the targeted resources. However, as DDoS attacks grow more complex and frequent, these traditional solutions are no longer 100% effective in mitigating the attacks. According to a report by Radware, the average cost of downtime for companies in the US due to a DDoS attack is now over $2 million per attack.
Cloud-based DDoS Protection
Cloud-based DDoS protection involves a specialized service provider that deploys and manages multiple protection points over the internet. The traffic is routed through these points and only legitimate traffic is allowed to reach the organization's resources. One of the significant benefits of cloud-based DDoS protection is its scalability, allowing it to handle massive traffic volumes during an attack. It also mitigates large-scale application layer attacks that can bypass traditional system-based DDoS protection.
Comparison
Here's a side-by-side comparison of cloud-based DDoS protection vs. traditional DDoS protection:
| Feature | Traditional DDoS Protection | Cloud-based DDoS Protection |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment | On-premises | Cloud-based |
| Scalability | Limited | Unlimited |
| Effectiveness | Limited | High |
| Management and Maintenance | Manual | Automated |
| Cost | High | Low |
Conclusion
DDoS attacks have become more complex, frequent, and costly than ever before. Traditional DDoS protection measures are no longer enough to mitigate these attacks. On the other hand, cloud-based DDoS protection has emerged as a better solution, offering high efficacy, scalability, lower costs, and automated management. It is essential for organizations to assess their risk tolerance and choose a solution that aligns with their business objectives.
In conclusion, if you want to save your online sandcastle from getting knocked down, investing in cloud-based DDoS protection might be the way to go.