Taking Charge Organizations must stop relying on their Internet service providers to protect them from attacks and take matters into their own hands

Taking Charge

Organizations must stop relying on their Internet service providers to protect them from attacks and take matters into their own hands

Taking Charge Organizations must stop relying on their Internet service providers to protect them from attacks and take matters into their own handsDistributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are some of the oldest Internet threats and continue to be the top risk to networks around the world. As protections have evolved, the technology used by hackers has adapted and become much more sophisticated. New attack types now target applications and services, and oftentimes, they’re masked in bulk layer 3 and 4 DDoS events, making it difficult to detect them.

The financial services industry is one of the largest targets of cyber criminals for DDoS attacks, followed closely by the government sector. Besides disrupting Internet operations through a brute-force data onslaught, DDoS attacks have recently been used to hide more sophisticated attempts to break into financial and e-commerce information. These attacks often have the intent of disrupting operations mostly through the destruction of access to information.

There are generally three categories of motivations behind DDoS attacks: political, retaliatory and financial. Political attackers target those who disagree with their political, social or religious beliefs. When a botnet gets shut down or a major cyber-crime ring is busted, it can trigger retaliatory attacks against those who aided or assisted the authorities. Financially-motivated attacks are a payto- play scheme, where hackers are compensated by a third-party to conduct the attack on their behalf. With each motivation, the results are the same—your network and online services are down, and can remain down for an extended period of time.

Watch Out for Advanced Application Layer DDoS Attacks

There are many kinds of DDoS attacks that are widely used today, including older methods from the early days of the Internet to the latest advanced layer 7 attacks that target application services. SYN flood and HTTP GET floods are the most common and are used to overwhelm network connections or overload servers behind firewalls and intrusion protection services (IPS).

More worrisome, however, is that application layer attacks use far more sophisticated mechanisms to attack organizations’ networks and services. Rather than simply flooding a network with traffic or sessions, these attack types target specific applications and services to slowly exhaust resources at the application level.

Application layer attacks can be effective using small traffic volumes and may appear to be completely normal to most traditional DDoS detection methods. This makes them harder to detect than basic types of DDoS attacks.

DDoS Protection Options

Most ISPs offer layer 3 and 4 DDoS protection to keep organizations’ links from becoming flooded during bulk, volumetric events; however, they don’t have the capability to detect the much smaller layer- 7-based attacks. Data centers should not rely on their ISP alone to provide a complete DDoS solution that includes application layer protection. Instead, they should consider putting in place one of the following measures:

DDoS service providers. There are many hosted, cloud-based DDoS solutions that provide layer 3, 4 and 7 mitigation services. These can range from inexpensive plans for small websites to large-scale enterprise plans that can cover multiple sites. They’re usually very easy to set up and heavily advertised to small and mid-sized organizations. Most offer customized pricing options and many have advanced layer 7 detection services for large organizations that require sensors to be installed in the data center.

Although many companies opt to go this route, some experience unpredictable and significant overage charges when they’re hit with high-volume DDoS attacks. Performance also may not be up to their expectations as the service providers redirect DDoS traffic to mitigation centers, instead of stopping it in real time. This is especially problematic for short duration attacks typically encountered.

Firewall or IPS. Almost every modern firewall and intrusion protection system (IPS) claims some level of DDoS defense. Advanced, next-generation firewalls (NGFWs) offer DDoS and IPS services that can mitigate many DDoS attacks. Having one device for firewall, IPS and DDoS is easier to manage, but one device may be overwhelmed with volumetric DDoS attacks and it may not have the sophisticated layer 7 detection mechanisms other solutions offer.

Another trade-off is that enabling DDoS protection on the firewall or IPS may impact the overall performance of a single device, resulting in reduced throughputs and increased latency for end users.

Dedicated DDoS attack mitigation appliances. These are dedicated, hardwarebased devices that are deployed in a data center, used to detect and stop basic (layer 3 and 4) and advanced (layer 7) DDoS attacks. Deployed at the primary entry point for all web-based traffic, they can both block bulk volumetric attacks and monitor all traffic coming in and leaving the network to detect suspicious patterns of layer 7 threats.

By using a dedicated device, expenses are predictable, as the cost is fixed whether an organization suffers from one attack in six months or is attacked every day. The trade-offs are: These devices are an additional piece of hardware to manage; lower-bandwidth units can be overwhelmed during bulk-volumetric attacks; and many manufacturers require frequent signature updates.

Dedicated hardware-based DDoS attack mitigation solutions come in two primary versions: Carrier and Enterprise. Carrier versions are large, expensive solutions designed for global ISP networks. Most organizations that want to protect their private data centers usually look at the Enterprise models to provide costeffective, DDoS detection and mitigation. Today’s models provide capacities that can handle large-scale, volumetric attacks for 100 percent layer 3, 4 and 7 protection or can be used to supplement basic, ISP-based, bulk DDoS protection with advanced layer 7 detection and mitigation. Although these devices require an up-front investment, compared to hosted solutions, they are generally much less expensive in the long run when overage charges are factored in with the total cost.

Enterprises should look for DDoS attack mitigation appliances that use adaptive, behavior-based methods to identify threats. Such appliances learn baselines of normal application activity and then monitor traffic against them. This adaptive/ learning approach has the advantage of protecting users from unknown zeroday attacks as the device doesn’t need to wait for signature files to be updated.

DDoS attacks are on the rise for almost any organization, large or small. The potential threats and volumes are increasing as more devices, including mobile handsets, join the Internet. If your organization has a web property, the likelihood of getting attacked has never been higher.

The evolving nature of DDoS attacks means that enterprises can no longer depend solely on their ISP for protection. Organizations must start making shifts now that give them greater foresight and more proactive defenses for network and application-level services.

This article originally appeared in the August 2014 issue of Security Today.

Featured

  • 12 Commercial Crime Sites to Do Your Research

    12 Commercial Crime Sites to Do Your Research

    Understanding crime statistics in your industry and area is crucial for making important decisions about your security budget. With so much information out there, how can you know which statistics to trust? Read Now

  • Boosting Safety and Efficiency

    Boosting Safety and Efficiency

    In alignment with the state of Mississippi’s mission of “Empowering Mississippi citizens to stay connected and engaged with their government,” Salient's CompleteView VMS is being installed throughout more than 150 state boards, commissions and agencies in order to ensure safety for thousands of constituents who access state services daily. Read Now

  • Live From GSX: Post-Show Review

    Live From GSX: Post-Show Review

    This year’s Live From GSX program was a rousing success! Again, we’d like to thank our partners, and IPVideo, for working with us and letting us broadcast their solutions to the industry. You can follow our Live From GSX 2023 page to keep up with post-show developments and announcements. And if you’re interested in working with us in 2024, please don’t hesitate to ask about our Live From programs for ISC West in March or next year’s GSX. Read Now

    • Industry Events
    • GSX
  • People Say the Funniest Things

    People Say the Funniest Things

    By all accounts, GSX version 2023 was completely successful. Apparently, there were plenty of mix-ups with the airlines and getting aircraft from the East Coast into Big D. I am all ears when I am in a gathering of people. You never know when a nugget of information might flip out. Read Now

    • Industry Events
    • GSX

Featured Cybersecurity

Webinars

New Products

  • Camden CV-7600 High Security Card Readers

    Camden CV-7600 High Security Card Readers

    Camden Door Controls has relaunched its CV-7600 card readers in response to growing market demand for a more secure alternative to standard proximity credentials that can be easily cloned. CV-7600 readers support MIFARE DESFire EV1 & EV2 encryption technology credentials, making them virtually clone-proof and highly secure. 3

  • XS4 Original+

    XS4 Original+

    The SALTO XS4 Original+ design is based on the same proven housing and mechanical mechanisms of the XS4 Original. The XS4 Original+, however, is embedded with SALTO’s BLUEnet real-time functionality and SVN-Flex capability that enables SALTO stand-alone smart XS4 Original+ locks to update user credentials directly at the door. Compatible with the array of SALTO platform solutions including SALTO Space data-on-card, SALTO KS Keys as a Service cloud-based access solution, and SALTO’s JustIn Mobile technology for digital keys. The XS4 Original+ also includes RFID Mifare DESFire, Bluetooth LE and NFC technology functionality. 3

  • ResponderLink

    ResponderLink

    Shooter Detection Systems (SDS), an Alarm.com company and a global leader in gunshot detection solutions, has introduced ResponderLink, a groundbreaking new 911 notification service for gunshot events. ResponderLink completes the circle from detection to 911 notification to first responder awareness, giving law enforcement enhanced situational intelligence they urgently need to save lives. Integrating SDS’s proven gunshot detection system with Noonlight’s SendPolice platform, ResponderLink is the first solution to automatically deliver real-time gunshot detection data to 911 call centers and first responders. When shots are detected, the 911 dispatching center, also known as the Public Safety Answering Point or PSAP, is contacted based on the gunfire location, enabling faster initiation of life-saving emergency protocols. 3