Microsoft thwarts mega-DDoS attack on Azure platform

By Alex Scroxton for ComputerWeekly
Tuesday, October 12, 2021

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Microsoft’s Azure Networking team have shared details of how they beat off one of the largest attempted distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks in internet history, which targeted an unnamed Azure customer in Europe.

ImmuniWeb founder Ilia Kolochenko, who is also a member of Europol’s Data Protection Experts Network, said this was a great demonstration of how the cyber capabilities of large public cloud providers can be of wider benefit.

“Virtually no on-premises infrastructure would resist such annihilating DDoS, even if protected by a cloud-based anti-DDoS solution,” Kolochenko told Computer Weekly in emailed comments. “We have witnessed how the largest anti-DDoS vendors abandoned some of their customers under extreme DDoS attacks to avoid any negative impact on other clients.

“The leading cloud vendors, notably AWS and Azure, offer probably the most comprehensive and efficient DDoS protection to their clientele. All premium features are quite costly, however they offer amazing value for money compared to other solutions.”

Kolochenko added that while many cite cyber security and compliance concerns as a blocker to moving data into a public cloud environment, in reality a correctly configured and hardened cloud infrastructure should enhance anyone’s security posture through better automation and incident response capabilities.

“It is essential, however, to ensure that your team is properly trained prior to moving your crown jewels to a cloud – the vast majority of devastating cloud incidents stem from misconfigurations and human error,” he added. Read Full Article