Speed Response with Automated Zero-day DDoS Defense

DDoS attackers and their competing legacy defenses have battled for nearly 20 years. Unfortunately, attackers have tipped the scale by weaponizing our beloved IoT devices into sophisticated yet inexpensive DDoS-for-hire services. These for-profit underground services, in effect, democratize DDoS to any motivated novice with a little money to spend.

The simplification and resulting acceleration of attacks require that DDoS defenses get an overhaul; a refresh powered by machine learning that speeds time-to-mitigation (TTM) through zero-day methods, eliminating manual intervention, and operating autonomously at the point of contact.

The overhaul is needed because DDoS attacks threaten the first step in running a modern business, availability. And when it comes to availability, continuous uptime is the only acceptable criterion even in the face of DDoS. Traditional DDoS defenses fall short because of their reactive nature. Once invoked, the first step applies a jarring, indiscriminate traffic clamp to prevent the service from falling over. Meanwhile, defenders scramble to analyze telemetry data and plow through miles of packet captures searching for the first viable filter.

The first filter is usually a clumsy filter blocking the attack while also inflicting collateral damage against legitimate users. Then trial and error cycles kick in to find the optimal blocking strategy, burning away precious time, frustrating workers and customers in a holding pattern. This results in lost profits and customers, a drop in productivity, and worse, reputation smeared.

Does this sound familiar and grim? Do you need a better path forward? A10 Networks’ Zero-day Automated Protection (ZAP) rebalances defense in favor of the defender. Learn how.