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Given how reliant today’s companies are on cloud-based resource hosting, the consequences of failing cloud defenses can be catastrophic. What’s more, cyber attacks have been increasing in sophistication, diversity and volume over recent years, turning companies’ sprawling cloud infrastructure into an attractive target.
Successful attacks can result in financial damage, critical data loss, disruptions in business operations, and serious reputational harm. Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS), one of the prominent and potent threat types, has been inflicting serious damage, with ases of DDoS continuing to increase year after year, making it a crucial concern for enterprises to take into account.
Confronting DDoS and other cloud infrastructure threats requires a holistic approach. Simply licensing an arbitrary mix of basic cloud security tools is not enough. Organizations need to adopt best practices and well-thought-out cloud defense strategies, as discussed below.
Adopting Multi-Layered Security
A single security solution—even those touted as all-in-one cybersecurity platforms—will never suffice. Cloud defense should consist of multiple layers of protection, including network firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS/IPS), and web application firewalls (WAFs). There should be network-level and application-level protection, client-side and server-side defense, as well as continuous monitoring and response mechanisms. This multi-layered strategy ensures that a failure in one security control does not result in the failure of the entire cloud security posture.
Multiple layers of security are particularly important when it comes to DDoS protection because of the rapid evolution and growing aggressiveness of attacks. Threat actors can easily modify their attacks with the help of new technologies, AI in particular, to evade threat signature-based detection. What’s more, DDoS is often used in tandem with other attacks, employed as a smokescreen to conceal secondary or tertiary attacks such as malware dissemination and vulnerability exploitation.
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Taking Advantage of Cloud Provider Security Features
Cloud security is a shared responsibility between users and providers. As such, most cloud providers readily offer security features as part of their services. These might include DDoS mitigation services, data encryption at rest and in transit, access control, and identity management, multi-factor authentication, security monitoring and logging, vulnerability scanning, distributed infrastructure, and compliance monitoring.
These security functions should be among the key considerations in choosing a cloud provider. Native security functions make it easier to defend cloud resources, because they are typically added in line with the expertise of the providers and the real-world attack scenarios the providers have dealt with. Also, these features tend to be more intuitive to use, as they typically can be accessed through the provider’s dashboard. They can also be integrated with other security solutions.
Notably, major cloud providers offer robust security features through their proprietary cloud protection packages. Amazon Web Services has the AWS Shield. Microsoft has Azure DDoS Protection. Meanwhile, Google Cloud has the Google Cloud Armor. A cloud provider that has none of these types of security features is unlikely to be a worthy choice.
Implementing Rate Limiting
Rate limiting is an effective DDoS attack prevention measure. It involves the setting of thresholds for the number of requests users and IP addresses are allowed for a specified time frame.
Limits can be imposed for IP addresses or ranges of IP addresses associated with threat actors, or locations that may be deemed as suspicious origins of traffic. While it does not guarantee complete protection, rate limiting is a dependable first line of defense against DDoS attacks.
When implemented well, rate limiting serves as a subset of traffic shaping, a network management technique that focuses on the prioritization of certain types of data or application traffic. This is useful in ensuring the optimal flow of traffic for crucial connections in case a DDoS attack happens. Bandwidth for less critical packets can be throttled to maximize traffic flow for priority connections.
Preventing the Possibility of a Single Point of Failure
A single point of failure (SPOF) refers to a component or system that has the potential to cause the failure of an entire system with its failure. Examples of SPOF are storage devices or servers. If these devices or servers malfunction, a website or web app is sure to become unavailable unless there are backups ready to take the place of the defective component.
To avoid the dreaded consequences of SPOF, it is advisable to put in place redundancy and high-availability measures, which include load balancing, the setting up of backups for servers and other critical network components, and the distribution of resources across multiple availability zones. Additionally, there has to be an automated failover mechanism to quickly switch to backup components if an attack occurs.
It is likewise important to implement continuous monitoring to immediately address threats before they cause failures. Moreover, it helps to use a content delivery network (CDN), as this can facilitate the dispersal of overwhelming traffic surges.
Keeping All Systems Up to Date
Software updates may be cumbersome, but they are vital to the optimal operation of cloud defenses and DDoS protection. Updates should be applied as soon as possible. Otherwise, security tools and apps are unlikely to function as intended.
Those who use hardware firewalls and related security solutions also need to evaluate the functioning of these endpoints and ensure that they are not using obsolete systems.
System vulnerabilities can emerge at any time, and threat actors are always on the lookout to spot and exploit them. No vulnerability exploitation can take place if the vulnerability has already been found and patched accordingly.
Dividing the Network into Segments
The separation of networks into different segments makes it easier to isolate compromises and protect sensitive data. It may not completely prevent attacks, but it provides a formidable obstacle against various forms of threats. It slows down the attacks significantly and provides more time for the execution of mitigation strategies.
Cloud networks can be divided into segments through logical segmentation such as the creation of Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs) and Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN). Subnets may also be created to reduce the network into smaller and more manageable segments.
Additionally, networks can be divided through geographical segmentation, security groups, Network Access Control Lists, and application-based segmentation.
Employee Education and Training
Combating DDoS and securing cloud infrastructure should be everybody’s business.
All departments and all team members need to be involved in detecting the signs of an attack, mitigating an attack, and ensuring the resiliency of an organization.
Employees cannot properly identify and respond to signs and symptoms of vulnerabilities and attacks if they lack proficiency in DDoS protection and cloud defense. Cybersecurity proficiency can only be achieved with proper education and training.
In Summary
DDoS and cloud threats have become inevitable as organizations increasingly do business online and embrace cloud computing. As such, DDoS protection and robust cloud security are required. Organizations need to adopt best practices, from multi-layered security to system updating, network segmentation, and employee training.
