Cooperation with a customer often starts with a single service and develops rapidly over time. It also happens that customers contact us when they find themselves in an unexpected situation, expecting immediate solutions. This was the case with a certain cable network operator. Not only his image, but also his trust in our company were at stake. After all, we promise tailor-made services for our customers and commit to provide them with all the help required.
History
A cable network operator approached us wishing to use one of our core services, that is: Internet access. Everything worked flawlessly until the holiday season when the customer observed anomalies in their network traffic. A short analysis and the diagnosis ready – a DDoS attack. Unfortunately, the customer’s existing solutions have proven inadequate. As a result, some services became inaccessible.
What is a DDoS attack?
DDoS (distributed denial of service) is an attack on a computer system or a network service. The goal is simple – rendering the service unavailable. The mechanism of operation itself is also not complicated. Many computers simultaneously and repeatedly connect to a particular address, “clogging” the link and overloading the server. The server stops working and shuts down, preventing customers from accessing information that is stored in it.
The simplicity of the attack is its greatest strength. Cameras, smartphones, TVs, printers, refrigerators… in fact, any device connected to the Internet will suffice. Due to the specific nature of the attack itself – the so-called volumetric attack (saturation of the entire available bandwidth for a given customer) – only an operator-grade solution can protect against its effects.
Challenges
For an efficient ICT operator, incorporating a new service is not difficult. However, it requires at least the preparation and signing of a contract or order. If the problem arises during the holiday season, when only maintenance and security teams are working in companies, the issue becomes extremely complicated. In the case described, it was a matter of maintaining the continuity of the customer’s services and their good image. We had to act – customer trust is our top priority.
The obvious solution was to incorporate one of our cyber security services, i.e. anti-DDoS. The fact that the problem occurred during the holiday season was not really a problem – our ICT security experts operate 24/7/365. So we started working. Thanks to elimination of some formalities, the attack was neutralized in just a few hours.
Effects
An operator-grade anti-DDoS solution is an extremely effective tool. All malicious network traffic is redirected to special devices where it is cleared (isolated). Correct traffic is routed back to the appropriate servers. The entire mitigation process is unnoticeable for the user who deploys the service, and the servers themselves can operate normally.
So what was the effect for the customer? The attack was quickly brought under control. Functioning of all services has been restored. The customer was very pleased with the effectiveness of our solutions, which they had the opportunity to test in action. They did not need to be persuaded to continue our cooperation.
