Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) protection

• 1. Introduction to DDoS Attacks – An overview of motivation and modus operandi of attackers

  (slides) (recording)
  DDoS attacks have been around for more than 20 years now, and over this time, they have gained in power, now reaching several terabits in bandwidth, enough to knock off ISPs. While the actual DDoS attacks have changed very little, the orchestration of the attacks, the deployment of their components and the motives of attackers have evolved.

  The course gives participants an overview of the attacks, the attackers, and their motivation and modus operandi.

• 2. Details of Selected DDoS Attacks – How the attacks work from a technical perspective

  (slides) (recording)
  While DDoS attacks have become more powerful and easier to start for attackers, the technical details of DDoS attacks have been remarkably consistent over the last 20 years.

  This course provides participants with an in-depth view of the technical details of the most common DDoS mechanisms: amplification and reflection and the services being exploited for them.

• 3. DDoS Detection – How to know if you are under attack or partake in an attack

  (slides) (recording)
  DDoS Detection may in theory sound simple, i.e., when you can’t access your systems, that means you’re under attack. However, this may also happen due to technical problems or misconfigurations. And what if we want to detect attacks before falling victim to them?

  The course shows participants the various ways in which DDoS attacks are detected on the internet.

• 4. DDoS Mitigation – What you can do against them?

  (slides) (recording)
  Mitigating a DDoS attack, especially a large-scale one, can seem like a daunting task, especially where there is a determined attacker and when several sites are affected.

  The course shows some simple but proven techniques to combat DDoS attacks as well as to avoid unintentionally partaking in one.