Azure Network: Azure DDoS Protection

Azure DDoS Protection is designed to safeguard your applications and services from Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. Here are its most important features:

• Always-on Monitoring: Constantly analyzes inbound traffic to detect DDoS threats in real time, so threats are identified instantly and don’t require manual activation.
• Automatic Attack Mitigation: When unusual patterns are detected, Azure automatically applies mitigation policies to block or absorb the attack without user intervention.
• Adaptive Tuning: Uses machine learning to tailor mitigation strategies and thresholds to each protected resource, reducing false positives and adapting to changing patterns.
• Layered Protection: Defends against Layer 3 (network) and Layer 4 (transport) attacks and can be integrated with Azure Web Application Firewall (WAF) for Layer 7 (application) threats.
• Attack Analytics and Reporting: Provides detailed attack metrics, post-event reports, and alerting via Azure Monitor, helping users understand incidents and take corrective action.
• Native Azure Integration: Seamlessly integrates into Azure’s resource management and security platform, enabling quick deployment and management.
• Cost Protection and Support: Standard DDoS offers cost guarantees on data transfer and rapid response support during qualified attacks, supporting both technical and financial recovery.

Azure offers two main tiers of DDoS Protection, each designed to suit different security and scalability needs. Here is a breakdown of their features and differences:

How to choose the right tier?

• DDoS IP Protection: Ideal for scenarios where protection is needed for a small number of critical public IP addresses or when a targeted endpoint requires dedicated security.
• DDoS Network Protection: Suited for organizations that need comprehensive coverage for multiple resources, mission-critical workloads, or compliance-driven environments. Includes cost protection and enhanced support.

Follow these step-by-step instructions to enable Azure DDoS Protection for your network resources:

1. Create a DDoS Protection Plan:
   • In the Azure portal, select Create a resource from the upper left corner.
   • Search for DDoS protection plan and select it from the results.
   • Click Create, then specify your subscription, resource group, name, and region for the plan.
   • Click Review + create and then Create to deploy the plan.
2. Associate the DDoS Protection Plan with a Virtual Network:
   • In the portal, go to the Virtual network you want to protect.
   • Under Settings, select DDoS protection.
   • Click Enable and then choose the existing DDoS Protection plan you just created.
   • Click Save to apply the protection plan to your virtual network.
3. Repeat as Needed for Additional Virtual Networks:
   • You can link more virtual networks to the same DDoS Protection plan if they are under the same Microsoft Entra (Azure AD) tenant.
   • To add networks from the DDoS Protection plan view, go to the plan's Protected resources section and click Add to select additional virtual networks.
4. Configure Security and Monitoring:
   • Review and configure Network Security Groups (NSGs), routing, and monitoring through Azure Monitor to optimize your security posture.
5. Validation and Ongoing Management:
   • After enabling protection, view the list of protected resources through the DDoS protection plan dashboard.
   • Regularly review diagnostics, alerts, and DDoS telemetry in Azure Monitor for visibility and response.

Note: Enabling DDoS Protection incurs charges based on the protection plan tier and number of protected resources.

Follow these best practices to maximize the effectiveness of Azure DDoS Protection and ensure your applications stay resilient:

• Design for Security: Make security a priority from the start. Understand your application’s architecture, traffic flows, and public exposure. Regularly review for potential vulnerabilities and address them early in the development lifecycle[1].
• Implement Scalability: Architect your applications for horizontal scaling to handle increased loads, especially during a DDoS event. Avoid single points of failure by deploying multiple instances and leveraging Azure’s auto-scaling features[1].
• Adopt Defense-in-Depth: Layer multiple security measures such as Azure DDoS Protection, Network Security Groups (NSG), Application Gateways, and Web Application Firewalls (WAF) to reduce the attack surface and block threats at various points[1].
• Minimize Exposure: Limit public access to only necessary endpoints and ports. Use approval lists, NSG rules, and service tags to secure resources, and deploy Azure resources inside virtual networks whenever possible[1].
• Continuous Monitoring: Enable diagnostic logging and Azure Monitor to track and analyze traffic patterns. Set up alerts to be promptly notified of attacks or anomalies, allowing quick response and investigation[2][5].
• Combine with Other Security Solutions: Integrate Azure DDoS Protection with solutions like WAF, Microsoft Sentinel, and Azure Security Center for enhanced detection, investigation, and remediation of attacks[1][5].
• Test and Optimize Regularly: Simulate attack scenarios, monitor performance, and adjust configurations based on telemetry and evolving threats. Keep your protection policies updated and aligned with your changing network environment[5].
• Educate and Train Teams: Ensure relevant staff are trained on DDoS response procedures and Azure best practices to facilitate quick action during incidents[1].

Tip: Enabling DDoS Protection Standard for mission-critical applications is recommended for advanced mitigation, analytics, and support features.

Azure DDoS Protection is applied across various networking scenarios to boost security and resilience for critical resources and infrastructure. Here are some of the most common use cases:

• Web Application Protection: Shield business-critical web applications hosted on virtual machines, Azure App Services, or behind Application Gateways from volumetric, protocol, and resource-layer attacks. When combined with Web Application Firewall (WAF), it enables both network and application layer defense[1][5].
• Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Architectures: Secure connections spanning on-premises datacenters, Azure, and other clouds. DDoS protection can be applied to public-facing endpoints in hybrid scenarios to prevent downstream impacts that may affect on-premises infrastructure[1][4].
• API and Service Endpoints: Protect public APIs, DNS endpoints, or REST services exposed to customers and partners, preventing their resources from being overwhelmed by malicious or accidental excess traffic[1][6].
• Critical Infrastructure: Defend load balancers, VPN gateways, and Bastion hosts from targeted attacks. This is essential for mission-critical workloads where downtime directly impacts business operations[6].
• Regulatory and Compliance Requirements: Ensure that security controls for resilience and threat mitigation meet specific industry mandates for data availability, recovery, and incident response through documented DDoS protection strategies[4].
• Mitigating Collateral and Diversionary Attacks: Prevent attacks that may target less-protected assets within the same environment as a diversion, reducing the risk of successful breaches as attackers shift their tactics[5].

Tip: For maximum coverage, combine Azure DDoS Protection with other network security services like NSGs, Azure Firewall, and WAF to build a robust, multi-layered defense.