“I was so into it, I almost forgot it was a drill!”
May 21, 2022, 01:30, Apeldoorn.
The NaWas team shows up in the middle of the night, for an anti DDoS drill. Together with affiliated parties, the Anti-DDoS Coalition organizes drills to be more resilient in case of a real DDoS-attack. The drills are held several times a year. This time it is a physical drill, the first since the pandemic. The NaWas team attended this, as we are part of this coalition.
DDoS attacks
Cybercriminals and other malicious parties are constantly trying to disrupt our digital society. One way to do this is to carry out DDoS (Distributed Denial-of-Service) attacks.
During a DDoS attack, a massive amount of data is sent to a server all at once. Because the servers cannot process this information, they temporarily go offline or are difficult to reach.
Practicing together
What is the best way to be prepared for a DDoS attack?
By practicing together! That’s what the members of the National Anti-DDoS Coalition did during their DDoS drill in Apeldoorn. The NaWas team was there, because we are part of this coalition. We are also a supplier of so-called DDoS fingerprints. These fingerprints are an important weapon in the fight against DDoS attacks and make it possible to report them to the Police.
Six affiliated parties are participating in the drill. Each with their own DDoS drill targets. The NaWas is involved in this drill as a failover. Normally we are a failover for three of the six parties. A failover is a kind of backup when the DDoS attack becomes too large or too complex.
“The NaWas again!”
During this drill, things turn out differently. Due to a too low threshold at one of the Internet providers, the NaWas engages as a failover for five of the six parties. By shifting gears quickly, consulting well and connecting everything within time, we end up mitigating all the attacks. From the red room, the place where the DDoS attacks are simulated, the sound of “the NaWas again!” is heard several times. Each time, the NaWas team was on time to mitigate the DDoS attacks.
At 09:00 the drill ended. All in all, a good drill. A team member of the NaWas team commented on how “real” the drill felt, “I was so into it that I almost forgot it was a drill.”
All participants learned new things that they can use to help both themselves, and Anti-DDoS providers, ensure a more secure Dutch DDoS infrastructure.
Building dikes: a Dutch approach against DDoS
The Anti-DDoS Coalition is a partnership against DDoS attacks. The alliance consists of organizations including governments, internet service providers, internet exchanges, academic institutions, non-profit organizations and banks. The coalition aims to research and combat DDoS from a variety of angles.
The coalition also aims to further improve the resilience of Dutch essential services by sharing expertise, experiences and operational data on DDoS attacks.
The National Anti-DDoS Coalition is a collaboration of AMS-IX, KPN, Police, SURF, The Dutch Bank, SIDN, National Cyber Security Centre, Payments Association Netherlands, Logius (digital government service) University of Twente, NL-ix, Tax Authority, Telecom Netherlands Agency, Digital Infrastructure Netherlands Foundation. NBIP is also connected to the Anti-DDoS Coalition, with the NaWas team as participants of the anti-DDoS drills.