DDoS attacks demand different defence strategies

1 November 2018 Information Security

Despite the fact that firewalls, IPS and load balancers are some of the least effective mitigation measures against distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, they remain at the top of the list of security measures that organisations have said they plan to employ against DDoS attacks.

This was a noteworthy finding from the annual 2018 NETSCOUT Arbor Worldwide Infrastructure Security Report (WISR), the company’s annual survey of security professionals in both the service provider and enterprise segments. The 13th annual report was released earlier this year.

Bryan Hamman.
Bryan Hamman.

Bryan Hamman, territory manager for sub-Saharan Africa at NETSCOUT Arbor, which specialises in advanced DDoS protection solutions, explains, “This was a discouraging finding when the findings of the report were analysed. Quite simply, DDoS attacks are a different kind of data breach, with the motive behind the attack embedded in the actual name: denial of service.

“The 2018 WISR found that among service providers, firewalls were the second most reported DDoS mitigation option, while on the enterprise side, they were the first choice of 82% of respondents. In essence, some of the most popular DDoS mitigation measures are actually the least effective. This is outlined by the fact that almost half (48%) of datacentre respondents experienced firewall, IDS/IPS device and load balancer failure contributing to an outage during a DDoS attack.”

Hamman explains that because DDoS attacks and data breaches are so different in nature, conventional security infrastructure components used to combat breaches are relatively ineffective at preventing this type of incident. “Security products such as perimeter firewalls and intrusion detection/preventions systems (IDI/IPS) certainly have their place in a layered defence strategy, as they protect data confidentiality and integrity. However, they fail to address network availability, which is the fundamental issue in DDoS attacks.”

The 2018 WISR uncovered a significant increase in DDoS attacks targeting infrastructure during 2017. The report noted that among enterprise respondents, 61% had experienced compromises on network infrastructure, and 52% had firewalls or IPS devices fail or contribute to an outage during a DDoS attack. Attacks on infrastructure are less prevalent among service providers, whose customers are still the primary target of DDoS attacks. Nonetheless, 10% of attacks on service providers targeted network infrastructure and another 15% targeted service infrastructure.

The report further noted that infrastructure components are particularly vulnerable to TCP State Exhaustion attacks, which attempt to consume the connection state tables (session records) used by load balancers, firewalls, IPS and application servers to identify legitimate packet traffic. Such attacks can take down even high-capacity devices capable of maintaining state on millions of connections. The 2018 WISR clarified that TCP State Exhaustion attacks accounted for nearly 12% of all attacks reported during the period under review.

“Because the aim of a DDoS attack is to prevent the delivery of online services that people depend on, top targets logically include financial institutions, gaming and e-commerce websites, as well as cloud service providers that host sites or service applications for business customers. Ensuring that your network infrastructure is protected from DDoS attacks means re-thinking your strategy, and realising that this different kind of occurrence requires a different kind of approach.

“Best practice to protect your infrastructure, as recommended by NETSCOUT Arbor, is generally regarded as being a hybrid solution that combines on-premise defences with cloud-based mitigation capabilities. A dedicated on-premise DDoS appliance deployed in front of infrastructure components will protect them from attacks and enable them to do their job unimpeded,” concludes Hamman.

For more information about NETSCOUT Arbor in Africa, please contact Bryan Hamman at [email protected]





Share this article:
Share via emailShare via LinkedInPrint this page



Further reading:

Kaspersky highlights biometric and signature risks
Information Security News & Events
AI has elevated phishing into a highly personalised threat. Large language models enable attackers to craft convincing emails, messages and websites that mimic legitimate sources, eliminating grammatical errors that once exposed scams.

Read more...
Software security is a team sport
Information Security Infrastructure
Building and maintaining secure software is not a one-team effort; it requires the collective strength and collaboration of security, engineering, and operations teams.

Read more...
Stronger cloud protection
Information Security Products & Solutions
Kaspersky has announced the release of an enhanced version of its Kaspersky Cloud Workload Security, delivering advanced protection for hybrid and multi-cloud environments.

Read more...
AttackIQ enters South Africa with key appointment
Information Security News & Events
AttackIQ, a provider of continuous security validation and exposure management, has announced its entry into the South African market with the appointment of Luke Cifarelli as its country manager.

Read more...
Managed security solutions for organisations of all sizes
Information Security News & Events
Cyber attackers have become significantly more sophisticated and determined, targeting businesses of all sizes. PwC’s Global Digital Trust Insights Survey 2025 Africa and South Africa highlights the urgent need for organisations to implement robust cyber risk mitigation strategies.

Read more...
Data resilience at VeeamON
Infrastructure Information Security
SMART Security Solutions attended the VeeamON Tour in Johannesburg in August to learn more about data resilience and Veeam’s initiatives to enhance data protection, both on-site and in the cloud.

Read more...
Troye exposes the Entra ID backup blind spot
Information Security Infrastructure
If you trust Microsoft to protect your identity, think again. Many organisations naively believe that Microsoft’s shared responsibility model covers Microsoft Entra?ID – formerly Azure AD – but it does not.

Read more...
Secure data protection without hardware lock-in
Infrastructure Information Security News & Events
New Veeam Software Appliance empowers IT teams to achieve instant protection with Veeam’s fully preconfigured, software-only appliance, delivering enterprise-ready simplified deployment and operational efficiency, robust cyber resilience.

Read more...
Check Point launches open, vendor-neutral MDR services
Information Security News & Events Products & Solutions
New Check Point MDR 360° and MXDR 360° offerings deliver 24/7 managed continuous threat monitoring protection across endpoints, cloud and network environments with built-in identity threat detection and 160+ integrations across hybrid, multi-vendor environments.

Read more...
Credential theft surges in South Africa
Information Security
NEC XON issues a critical cybersecurity warning about the dual threat of massive credential theft and AI-powered cyberattacks sweeping across the region, with an increasing number of incidents and evolving threat tactics.

Read more...










While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained herein, the publisher and its agents cannot be held responsible for any errors contained, or any loss incurred as a result. Articles published do not necessarily reflect the views of the publishers. The editor reserves the right to alter or cut copy. Articles submitted are deemed to have been cleared for publication. Advertisements and company contact details are published as provided by the advertiser. Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd cannot be held responsible for the accuracy or veracity of supplied material.




© Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd. | All Rights Reserved.