[119049] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: Pros and Cons of Cloud Computing in dealing with DDoS
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jeffrey Lyon)
Thu Nov 5 13:21:24 2009
In-Reply-To: <002101ca5e42$bddeace0$399c06a0$@com>
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 13:20:17 -0500
From: Jeffrey Lyon <jeffrey.lyon@blacklotus.net>
To: Stefan Fouant <sfouant@shortestpathfirst.com>
Cc: NANOG list <nanog@nanog.org>
Errors-To: nanog-bounces+nanog.discuss=bloom-picayune.mit.edu@nanog.org
DDoS is a threat to the cloud just as DDoS is a threat to any other
service when you fail to implement protection. Our company recently
put out a DDoS mitigated cloud product specifically for high risk
clients.
Best regards, Jeff
On Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 1:06 PM, Stefan Fouant
<sfouant@shortestpathfirst.com> wrote:
> I'm working on an article on the Pros and Cons of Cloud Computing as an
> effective strategy for dealing with DDoS. =A0I'd like to open this up for
> debate and get some perspectives from folks on the list.
>
>
>
> In a recent article in ITWire titled "DDoS, the biggest threat to Cloud
> Computing", Roland Dobbins states that "DDoS attacks are one of the most
> under-rated and ill-guarded against security threats to corporate IT, and=
in
> particular the biggest threat facing cloud computing." =A0To a certain ex=
tent,
> I agree with Roland, however, I also believe this perspective is
> inconsistent with the view that the elasticity of cloud computing and
> ability to scale resources on demand is a good way of dealing with the
> problem. =A0The counterpoint to this is that I can also envision the clou=
d
> computing model causing a shift from that of a DDoS to what some are call=
ing
> EDoS (Economic Denial of Sustainability). =A0In an EDoS, the elasticity o=
f the
> cloud and surplus of available resources might be used in such a way that
> large botnets generating seemingly legitimate "targeted" requests for
> service causing the victim to cloudburst in order to keep pace with the
> scale of the requests. =A0Even though the victim can sustain business
> operations, the cost of doing so may be so exorbitantly expensive that to=
do
> so threatens economic sustainability.
>
>
>
> Roland also states "The cloud providers emerging as leaders don't tend to
> talk much about their resiliency to DDoS attacks". =A0Which brings about
> another point - are there any cloud providers taking a proactive look at
> dealing with this problem and deploying effective countermeasures for
> dealing with this in their environments? =A0What motivation would cloud
> providers have to deploy DDoS mitigation services and/or services which c=
an
> distinguish between legitimate resource consumption vs. targeted resource
> consumption, especially if their revenues are driven from service
> availability and potential expansion of resource utilization?
>
>
>
> Stefan Fouant
>
> GPG Key ID: 0xB5E3803D
>
>
>
>
--=20
Jeffrey Lyon, Leadership Team
jeffrey.lyon@blacklotus.net | http://www.blacklotus.net
Black Lotus Communications of The IRC Company, Inc.
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