Blockchain and Ethereum Hold the Promise in Cyber Security

The old saying goes, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

And unfortunately, nothing could be more true of DDoS, or distributed denial of service, attacks. Despite repeated attempts to shut them down once for all, DDoS attacks have only increased in number.

These lethal attacks join together a compromised set of computers on a single network and use the computers to overwhelm their targets. This is done primarily through sending a very high volume of requests–things like messages, inquiries, and packages. Faced with an incredibly large amount of traffic, the targets, whether servers, networks, or websites, are forced to shut down.

The costs on companies is astounding. Nearly half of DDoS attacks last between 6 and 24 hours, costing an estimated $40,000 per hour. This means one in every two DDoS attacks can range from $240,000 to $960,000 in upfront damages to the target. Many cost much more. Some estimate that the total cost per business is over $2.5 million after all is said and done.

The public’s response to DDoS attacks has been quite telling. Though a vast majority of organizations already have specific DDoS defense systems in place, an astounding 90% are still investing more in DDoS protection. There’s a growing problem, and cyber criminals know it.

As millions of dollars are poured into traditional DDoS protection plans, one has to wonder about their effectiveness. As costs continue to increase–both for protection plans and damage control–many are asking if there’s a better way to mitigate damages.

Gladius, a blockchain technology and Ethereum based startup wants to provide a new and improved way to stop DDoS attacks in their tracks. The decentralized blockchain platforms offer several significant advantages over traditional systems, giving companies hope that DDoS attacks can be put to rest once and for all.

DDoS Mitigation on Steroids
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Current traditional DDoS protection services are very costly.

In addition, they have a single point of failure, due to their centralized nature. That means if an attacker discovered the website real IP, the website is history. In other words, they depend on one centralized server to bear the full brunt of an attack. This results not only in an easy target for DDoS attacks, but rapidly increasing costs for customers who purchase these plans.

In contrast to traditional centralized servers, Gladius and its peers have created a decentralized platform offering customized DDoS protection plans on demand. On the proprietary platform, users can rent out their computer’s bandwidth to help allocate bandwidth to websites under attack. They can also form “protection pools” with other users in their area, allowing them to create a synthesized defense system.

So, when a DDoS attack comes, it must take down each individual server that is really a part of a larger conglomerate. With the DDoS attack focusing its energy on so many different targets, the attack is much less of a direct threat to the customer.

Because there is no centralized server, these plans are also much less costly. Gladius, for example, has set their platform up in such a way that users can search for plans that fit their specific needs. They are free to search for pools in their area and select a plan that fits their needs. Costs are much lower and the protection is much greater.

Content Delivery Networks Revolution

Blockchain and decentralization can also create a revolution in the CDN industry.

In a similar manner to their DDoS protection plans, Gladius allows users to utilize pooled networks to deliver content to increase website speed. While current CDN’s solution have a centralized backbone, a blockchain distributed CDN would have a broader distribution of data centers, potentially turning every connection to act as a mini CDN.

These blockchain companies are relatively new–many are still in their ICO phase.

Gladius in particular has an ICO that begins on November 1, 2017 and can be accessed on their website. There’s not a doubt in anyone’s mind that something needs to be done about these deadly DDoS attacks. Blockchain technology and Ethereum based platforms just may be the answer.