Prolexic's Eight Key Factors in Choosing a DDoS Mitigation Provider

Prolexic Technology’s quarterly report on DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks for Q1 offered a fairly frightening glimpse into the recent upturn in DDoS attack frequency. Put simply, average attack bandwidth for the quarter totaled 48.25 Gbps, up a staggering 718 percent over the prior quarter. Fortunately, the provider of DDoS protection services has followed up with a handy infographic that is meant to help organizations choose the right DDoS mitigation service provider and DDoS protection.

“DDoS attacks are now a mainstream issue and, as a result, more providers are entering the DDoS mitigation market, making it difficult for organizations to distinguish the quality of service,” said Stuart Scholly, president at Prolexic, in a statement. “This infographic can help businesses see through the hype and choose the best provider and level of DDoS protection for their needs.”

In particular, the infographic highlights a few key areas — eight, to be precise — that organizations need to evaluate when selecting a DDoS mitigation provider.

Right off the bat, it’s important to determine whether or not a provider is able to provide an adequate level of DDoS mitigation. As such, it’s best to look for one that has capacity enough to support multiple attacks against multiple clients. Meanwhile, make sure the provider you go with is a specialist rather than a generalist; it’s a good way to ensure that you’ll get top-rate service.

Getting more specific, it’s helpful to look for a documented time-to-mitigate service level agreement (SLA), examining the fine print for how long it takes a provider to develop or release blocking signatures to stop attacks. Back up that SLA with a little research, too. Look for a provider that fights multiple attacks on a daily basis. Also, ask for evidence of attacks that have been mitigated, and how they were stopped.

One last way to evaluate a provider is to found out if it has a proven track record with stealth, sophisticated Layer 7 attacks, making sure it has audited, documented key handling and management practices.

Other critical areas indicated by Prolexic include: flat-rate pricing, direct access to those fighting the DDoS attack on your behalf, and access to a Web portal that offers instant access to attack data.