DDoS Mitigation Techniques for Your Enterprise IT Network

DDoS attacks continue to be one of the most targeted attack vectors to counter. The range of attack methods is growing and diversifying as a prebuilt toolkit, and even DDoS attack services, are made more readily available.

Here are a few DDoS Mitigation techniques to protect your business from the wide range of DDoS attacks:

DDoS Mitigation Techniques

TRAFFIC RATE LIMITING

Too many traffic can cause a server to be flooded. To control the amount of incoming and outgoing traffic to or from a network, the rate limiting is done.

This can be enforced by setting a traffic threshold for allowing only the desired bandwidth of traffic.

1. Prevents Volumetric attacks, Protocol and Resource attacks
2. Network and Application level enforcement

Read More: What is DDoS Attack and Its Types

AGGRESSIVE AGING

When idle connections fill up the connection tables in servers, you can provide some relief to them by aggressive ageing.

Aggressive Aging causes idle/half-open inbound and outbound connections to timeout much sooner.

1. Prevent Open connection and slow connection attacks
2. Prevents idle connections to fill up the connection tables in servers
3. Much sooner Timeout for Inbound and Outbound Connections

TRAFFIC SHAPING

Traffic shaping is used to optimize network performance and improve latency. This practice involves delaying the flow of packets that are described as less important than those of the prioritized traffic streams.

1. Optimization of the network performance
2. Prevent False Positives

Example: In a corporate environment, business-related traffic may be given priority over other traffic.

DEEP PACKET INSPECTION

Deep Packet Inspection is used to look within the application payload of a packet or traffic stream and make decisions based on the content of that payload.

1. Look within the application payload of the packet
2. Accurate detection of malicious packets
3. Serves real-time network monitoring
4. Enhances the capability of ISPs to prevent the exploitation of IoT devices in DDOS attacks.

ANOMALY DETECTION

Anomaly detection is used to identify unusual traffic patterns that do not conform to expected behaviour. The detection of malicious traffic also prevents Zero-day attacks.

1. Enables quick response to the attack mitigation
2. Accurately detects the abnormal behaviour of the traffic
3. Prevents Zero-day DDoS attacks

BLACKLISTING / WHITELISTING

Blacklisting / Whitelisting allows blocking or accepting the inbound or outbound traffic to prevent flood attacks coming from multiple IP resources. While the Greylisting is done to provide a challenge to accessing IP.

1. Filter legitimate/malicious incoming requests that are coming from any geographical region
2. Ensure regulatory compliance regimes
3. Prevent Inbound and Outbound flood attacks from the multiple IP resources