DDoS mitigation recommendations

Fri Jan 29 05:01:19 UTC 2010

On Jan 29, 2010, at 10:04 AM, Jonathan Lassoff wrote:

> Something utilizing sflow/netflow and flowspec to block or direct traffic into a scrubbing box gets you much better bang for your buck past a certain scale.

This is absolutely key for packet-flooding types of attacks, and other attacks in which unadulterated pathological traffic can be detected/classified in detail, with minimal collateral damage.  Everyone should implement S/RTBH and/or flow-spec whenever possible, this cannot be emphasized enough.  Operators have made significant investments in high-speed, ASIC-powered routers at their edges; there's no reason not to utilize that horsepower, as it's already there and paid for.

For situations in which valid and invalid traffic are highly intermixed, and/or layer-4/-7 heuristics are key in validating  legitimate traffic and invalidating undesirable traffic, the additional capabilities of an IDMS which can perform such discrimination can be of benefit.  As mentioned in a previous thread, it's possible to construct a base-level capability using open-source software, and commercial solutions from various vendors [full disclosure: I'm employed one of said vendors] are available, as well.

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Roland Dobbins <rdobbins at arbor.net> // <http://www.arbornetworks.com>

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