Provider-based DDoS Protection Services

Fri Jul 29 02:50:15 UTC 2005

Ferg,

That's an understandable attitude given the nature of your networks.
In our case, I'm just talking about two or three T1s that provide
Internet connectivity to our website for our customers.

I appreciate your input, though. I will accept all advice and input if
it gets me closer to a better understanding of the realities of topic
at hand and if it helps weed out some of the marketing fluff that's
being heaped upon me by salespeople. :)

Thanks!
John

On 7/28/05, Fergie (Paul Ferguson) <fergdawg at netzero.net> wrote:
> John,
> 
> Contrary to popular belief, I (not alone, of course) run,
> manage, defend, and continually architect very large
> networks. Very large.  On none of them do we outsource
> the protection of them -- because, in cases where we
> have extended trust in the past, we have been screwed
> (PC translation: disappointed).
> 
> So we protect ourselves.
> 
> It's been a business decision for my customers' networks
> (ie. their network) not to outsource security, or rely on
> an upstreampipedream, for protection of any sort.
> 
> Thus, I personally can't provide any insight here. Sorry.
> 
> - ferg
> 
> -- John Neiberger <jneiberger at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> In this case it's a business decision. I understand that we could
> simply weigh the costs of an attack with the costs of preemptively
> detecting and mitigating an attack, but in our case we won't lose hard
> dollars like an ecommerce site would. We have different reasons for
> wanting to have some protection in place before we need it. I look at
> it like it's an insurance policy, but I don't want to be ripped off.
> 
> It's like I'm getting estimates on building a protective dike around
> my house. One contractor tells me that the floodwaters commonly reach
> six feet so I should pay him $12,000 to build a wall at least that
> high. Another contractor is telling me that he'll build a six-foot
> wall for $6,000. Another contractor is telling me that the floodwaters
> most likely won't go over two feet and he suggests that I pay him
> $1,000 for a three-foot-high wall.
> 
> If it turns out that we really do need a six-foot-high wall then so be
> it. I'm not the one who pays the bills so it isn't really my decision.
> I just want to make sure I have a clearer picture of reality before I
> make any suggestions to my boss.
> 
> Thanks again,
> John
> 
> On 7/28/05, Fergie (Paul Ferguson) <fergdawg at netzero.net> wrote:
> 
> > I should've asked the most important question first -- is this
> > a technical decision, or a business decision? I mean, forgive me
> > for pointing out the obvious, but you made an issue of cost in your
> > original post...
> >
> > - ferg
> >
> 
> --
> "Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
>  Engineering Architecture for the Internet
>  fergdawg at netzero.net or fergdawg at sbcglobal.net
>  ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/
> 
>