The Benefits of Cloud Computing with DDoS Software vs DDoS Hardware

DDoS Security Software vs Hardware

DDoS Security is emerging as a necessity for all servers small and large. With anti virus and malware tools taking more or less effective care of the servers, malicious elements are resorting to more and more innovative means to compromise your business. Anti DDoS Software or Hardware is meant to combat this threat.

Contents 1 DDoS Security Overview 1.1 Cost of DDoS Security 1.1.1 Anti DDos Hardware 1.1.2 Anti DDoS Software 1.2 Proxyshield DDoS Protection

DDoS Security Overview

A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is one where a third party or parties overwhelm a server with tasks to such an extent that it is unable to carry out it's duties effectively. There are three resources that are always scarce, namely Bandwidth, Storage Capacity, and Processing power. A DDoS attack can attempt to cause the server to use up any one of these resources leaving it with none for legitimate traffic.

There are basically two Types of DDoS attacks - Flood and Logic Attacks. Flood attacks take place when the server is overwhelmed with traffic. This traffic consumes so much of the server's resources, that it collapses or becomes unbearably slow. Sometimes this can happen non maliciously. If Yahoo! or Slashdot one day posts an article that links to your site, you might get an unexpected flood of traffic to your server which it was not designed to handle. This can cause your server to become temporarily unavailable.

DDoS Security however is meant to prevent the deliberate flooding of your server with traffic with the intention of causing the server to breakdown. We will discuss this later in the article. Logic Attacks are a type of attack that exploits a bug or flaw on the server, and causes the server to reboot, shut down, or malfunction due to the unexpected conditions it is exposed to. This sort of attack is both easier to deploy as well as defend against with Anti DDoS Software.

Cost of DDoS Security

DDoS Security is expensive. There's really no getting round that. However, there are more expensive ways and less expensive ways. There are basically two roads to go down. DDoS protection software and DDoS Hardware. Sometimes, it's a mix. Meaning that you don't personally install any hardware and just make a few configuration changes and the DDoS Security Provider takes care of the security with hardware. In fact, the last solution is emerging as the most popular as it provides industry standard protection at the cheapest cost.

There are several levels of protection and the cost steeply increases as you demand greater protection. It's well to remember that in some cases, it is well nigh impossible to completely stop. Even Google's servers have been laid low for a few hours a couple of times. In addition, it is sometimes remarkably difficult to tell legitimate traffic from malicious traffic. Let's take a look at both hardware and software DDoS Security.

Anti DDoS Hardware

DDoS hardware functions by physically placing security equipment in front of your network in order to prevent traffic from every actually reaching you. However, this will not take care of certain types of attacks like DNS attacks where the damage is done well in advance.

In order to get full and proper benefits from DDoS hardware, it is often necessary to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on equipment alone. However, as with all hardware, the costs don't end there. You need to employ manpower to use the appliances and maintain them. This manpower will be skilled and therefore expensive. In addition, the worth of the hardware will keep decreasing as depreciation takes it's toll. So in a very real sense, you end up paying many more recurring costs.

If you don't have much of an IT department to start out with, the costs of setting one up will be phenomenal. Also, keep in mind that hardware solutions are inherently inflexible. If your network changes or your threat level suddenly decreases for whatever reason, you're stuck with a lot of expensive electronic equipment.

For these reasons, Anti DDoS hardware is best left to large professional Anti DDoS service providers. If, like most people you just want great DDoS Security and are content to let other professionals worry about the details, you need another technique to achieve your goal.

Anti DDoS Software

DDoS Protection Software as the name implies, is software that runs on your existing hardware that analyzes incoming traffic and filters out malicious packets. It is significantly cheaper than hardware solutions and easier to manage. Anti DDoS Software is definitely a better bet than hardware for a business.

However, there have been concerns that software at the target location alone is not as effective as hardware. Either because it is easily overwhelmed, or by the time that the malicious traffic reaches the software filter, it is already too late. If you're really concerned about your business being safe, you need a great alternative - On Demand Professional DDoS Protection.

Proxyshield DDoS Protection

The ideal solution is one that provides state of the art DDoS security at a minimal cost. The emerging trend these days is to outsource your DDoS protection needs to a third party who is a professional. At Gigenet, we have the most advanced DDoS technology in our massive colocation centers. The cost of this is distributed amongst our clients ensuring that each gets a level of protection that would normally require hundreds of thousands of dollars in initial outlay alone.

The idea is to redirect all traffic to your site through our network which will filter out all malicious traffic well before it comes anywhere close you yours. The great news is that it requires no investment from you, and absolutely no technical knowledge. Just a simple configuration change at the DNS is enough to route all traffic through us to ensure that you are forever protected from DDoS attacks of any scale.

It doesn't get better than this. No investments, no hassles, no commitments and no technical knowledge. Just great DDoS Security at a fraction of the cost. Visit our DDoS Protection page for more details.