HTTP application layer DDoS attack mitigation using resources monitor

Denial of Service attacks are one of the most annoying day to day challenges for any security expert and IT professional. This is according to the attack nature. It can be run against any kind of network resources, whether exposed to the Internet or internally in a corporate network, regardless of the type of service it provides and its role in the network. There is no one complete solution or unified framework method against this type of attack. The most dangerous type of DoS attack is the DDoS type. The attack flow from many sources at the same time. In the context of mitigation from DDoS attack, the detection mechanisms are the first step in the way. Mechanisms like IPS and firewall are not effective because of the current challenging DDOS attack methods against application layer. The attackers use vulnerability in the application itself to disrupt the service it provides. Current mitigation techniques depend on preventing the attack traffic from reaching web servers. In this paper we study http application layer DDoS attacks against web servers. We propose new approach for mitigation that depends on absorbing the attack effects on the web server and increases server’s resistance against DDoS attacks. © 2018, Springer International Publishing AG.