How Proxies Can Help Protect Against DDoS Attacks

Botnets alongside AI algorithms are increasingly used to organize DDoS attacks, making them more powerful and resistant to countermeasures. Companies operating in the fields of finance, online gaming, and cloud services, require advanced security measures such as anti DDoS proxy, which filter suspicious traffic and can ensure stable operation even under intense loads.

Here, we will focus on all aspects concerning proxy for DDoS prevention used, their relevance in combating harmful attempts, the optimal types of proxies available, as well as how to bolster the security of the systems within the organization.

What Are DDoS Attacks?

A DDoS attack is defined as a form of cyberattack which renders online services inaccessible. The attack is executed via a botnet, which is a network consisting of servers, Internet of Things (IoT) devices and hacked computers controlled by malicious actors.

They make use of overwhelming the server compute power by sending an abnormally large number of requests or constraining the bandwidth available for data transfer in the network.

There could be various reasons for conducting such attacks which include:

• competitive rivalries;
• financial ransom in order to cease the attack;
• political or social context:
• attempts to find weaknesses in security systems.

To understand how it disables services, it is important to comprehend which levels of the network resources they aim at. Here, the OSI model explains the division – in seven stages – of how data transmitting takes place in the network, elaborately fulfilling each stage with precision.

Every level has a set of responsibilities assigned while working. The table below shows what types of attacks exist and how they operate.

The most common methods include:

• Network level attacks ( L3 – L4);
• Application level attacks (L7);
• Combined attacks – these involve the usage of techniques operating together in the network and application levels.

They cause massive reputational and financial damage to companies and users such as:

• Loss of data – depending on how severe these attacks are, it can result in information theft as well as hacking.
• Higher expenses – this can occur in the event where protection systems need to be purchased immediately, or if the system needs to be restored.
• Reputational expenses – frequent failures of ‘provide’ make the clients have little to no belief in the company.
• Business downtime – for instance, not having access to online stores is a great way to lose value and render incomplete trust to customers.

In 2022 Google suffered a load attack of DDoS at an astounding magnitude of 46 million requests per second. If the attack was not mitigated the company's operational downtime may have cost the company nearly half a million dollars with the loss potentially reaching to multi million per day. This is a clear example of why building a proficient protection is key. In the next block, we will analyze one of the highly sought after tools used for this purpose.

Role of Proxies in Mitigating DDoS Attacks

Proxy server helps in DDoS attack prevention, because of such reasons:

• Traffic is automatically directed to different servers minimizing chances of service denial or overload;
• The actual location where the systems are situated remains undisclosed making it more difficult for attackers to find;
• Using user behavioral analysis and IP address comparison, suspicious requests are blocked.

These mechanisms significantly limit the chances of a successful attack, placing an additional barrier between the attacking source and the intended system. Let us now observe how an anti DDoS proxy can mitigate the risks of attacks.

Traffic Distribution and Load Balancing

The strategic allocation of load across various nodes is crucial in the case of DDoS attacks that produce a disproportionately high volume of requests, likely to surpass the limits of a singular server.

How it works:

1. A user, for example, enters a certain page of a web site.
2. The request is sent to an intermediate server first.
3. It redirects the request to a less busy server.
4. The user receives a response in the same way.

Why load balancing via proxies is advantageous:

• Even when the system is heavily overloaded, the services remain functional and accessible, meaning the services remain stable.
• One server does not become a bottleneck, protecting the system from being overloaded.
• There is no need to modify the client settings, allowing new nodes to the pool out of bare need.

Hiding Real IP Addresses

Specific IP addresses that belong to company servers are normally the main target. If the attackers are aware of these pieces of information, they will readily be able to confront protective server measures.

Proxies prevent this by masking the IP address of the infrastructure. As a result, users are able to interact through the intermediary server, which appears as follows:

1. It captures the actions initiated by the user.
2. It subsequently connects to the appropriate server, concealing its IP address.
3. The information is then processed by the server and the response is sent back through the same route.

Consequently, the attacker only has access to the proxy server's IP address without any knowledge of the actual location of the protected resource.

Filtering Malicious Traffic

Proxies serve a dual purpose: they transmit data while simultaneously monitoring requests for any potentially malicious traffic, which they can block if necessary. This helps mitigate the effects of such traffic even before they reach the boundary of the protected servers.

How protection using proxies against DDoS is achieved through filtering:

• Activity analysis. Traffic from a specific IP address that exceeds normal levels in a short time can be cut off.
• Blacklists. An IP address that is associated with an attack can be blocked right away.
• Anomaly detection. Unusual visits relative to the average flow of traffic can be easily integrated when updating suspicious activities.
• CAPTCHA and rate limiting. One IP address may also be subjected to restricted actions through advanced verification to prevent overexploitation.

That’s how proxies stop DDoS. Servers are less impacted because, during the proxy stage, harmful requests are already eliminated. This also aids the automated removal of bots, which helps safeguard resources from manipulation, spam, and automated exploits. Users can also benefit from being able to tailor the configuration according to their needs and the severity of the threat.

Types of anti DDoS Proxy Servers

DDoS protection proxies are indeed effective, but not all types are equally effective in different situations. Reverse and transparent proxy servers are most commonly used for those kinds of purposes.

Both types relate to prevention of violations different in manner:

• DDoS protection reverse proxy shields server infrastructure by concealing the server from the users.
• Transparent ones perform the task of traffic capturing and analysis without any modification to the client side.

Let's take a closer look at how they function and the corresponding case scenarios in which they are applicable.

Reverse Proxies

This type operates by forwarding user requests to a target server which is situated behind it.

How a reverse proxy protects anti DDoS attacks:

• direct ones have no chance, as the IP addresses of the end machines are not known;
• a request is made, and during it connections that are likely to be suspicious are demolished;
• If any one node is being victims of overloading, then load balancing is achieved;
• To minimize system load, responses are served from the cache.

This strategy is meant for safeguarding API services, websites, and corporate networks to withstand abuses and overloads. It is an added layer for web apps and sites to defend servers from being affected. For the case of API services and protection from DDoS, reverse proxy are preferable options.

Transparent Proxies

This type is a part of the network at the level of the provider, router, or corporate server and operates without any modification to the original request. They seldom mask the IP address, meaning they are frequently paired with other more complex methods like network filters and security gateways. However, the application of these anti DDos proxy type is more complex than that:

• Cybersecurity attack screening largely suspends or denies access to questionable connections at the network level.
• Targeting blacklists through weaponized IP address attacks using automated bots and known hostile nodes.
• Connection supervision through analyzing information volume type to mitigate possible network abuse.
• Threshold control through reduced cyber assault likelihood as a result of limited request volume to one IP.

Additionally, proxies in public Wi-Fi connections, like those available in cafes and airports, survey the level of connection security, check for the reach of unsafe sites, and control traffic on forbidden materials. For providers, this is simply an instrument that shields the clients from dangerous resources and inhibits the risk of cyber-attacks.

Here are a few tips for choosing the best DDoS proxy protection:

As is the case with many resources, it is best to use reverse ones for user protection. For more general security measures transparent type can be used.

Implementing of anti DDoS Proxy

As a safeguard for such activities, proxies should be guaranteed the best results whenever possible. With the help of a reliable action plan and the accurate configuration of proxies, desired outcomes can be met.

1. Reverse proxy selection from existing market offer.
• Cloud Services – Cloudflare and Akamai, for example, provide services where filtering is conducted at the level of the edge nodes of the clients' distributed networks.
• Specialized DDoS protection proxy – providers such as Imperva and Radware offer proxies that filter incoming traffic and deny requests which are likely to be harmful, therefore, providing more in-depth protection.
2. Proxy configuration.
• Installation of proprietary software: Nginx, HAProxy, and Squid are among the industry favorites.
• Setting of filtering rules: IP restrictions and blocking of suspicious connections.
• Caching – lessen server strain which makes the effectiveness of harmful actions lower.
3. Integration with the monitoring system.
• Employ Zabbix, Grafana, Prometheus, and other similar tools for monitoring load.
• Configure alarm notifications during anomalous behavior.
4. Load distribution.
• Utilization of load balancers like NGINX Load Balancer, Cloudflare Load Balancing and others for incoming traffic mitigation.

After implementing the proxy server, there are other conditions that should be considered to enhance the server’s protection by avoiding an attack:

• Disallowing traffic from certain geographic locations;
• Restrictions on the amount of incoming traffic from specific addresses;
• Effective working allocation and network redundancy;
• Countermeasures against malware scripts;
• Track unusual behavior in the system in real time;
• Adjust security measures in the system constantly.

If dynamically adjusted proxies are established alongside security practices, the chances of facilitating DDoS attacks are dimmed a lot while mitigating the chances of diversions having an impact on system reliability.

Conclusion

In a world where the frequency of attacks increases, the role of proxy DDoS protection becomes more significant in terms of cybersecurity in safeguarding infrastructure and defending assets of utmost priority for maximized availability.

Proxies are only one aspect of many other protective measures that need to be instituted in order for security to be at the pinnacle of performance. For example, geo-filtering access can be limited from certain suspicious areas and request volume limits can also help mitigate irregular actions, while constant observing of the traffic enables timely response for threats.