If your business depends on online connectivity for your operations, services, or transactions, defending against distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks is no longer optional—it’s essential. 

DDoS attacks have become a widespread threat, with the ability to cripple businesses within minutes. The question isn’t if you need DDoS protection—it’s which deployment model best aligns with your infrastructure, risk profile, and growth strategy: on-premises, hybrid, or cloud?

When choosing between these different types of DDoS solutions, there are a number of factors to look at, such as your organization’s online operations and available resources. Not sure which DDoS solution is right for your business? Let’s break down the benefits and drawbacks of each type of DDoS protection so you can choose the right defence.

Understanding DDoS attacks

A distributed denial-of-service attack floods your network, overwhelming your servers or websites so that your services are inaccessible to legitimate users. Even a few minutes of service disruption can have major consequences—you may be left to deal with financial losses, reputational damage, or regulatory fines.

What’s the most devastating consequence of a DDoS attack? According to research from global DDoS protection leader Corero, 78 percent of enterprise organizations say it’s the loss of customer trust and confidence. Imagine your customers can’t access your services for even 10 minutes. Suddenly, a technical glitch can become a major blow to your brand's reputation.

To safeguard your reputation and maintain your customers' trust, you need a robust DDoS protection solution that can:

• Continuously monitor and analyze network traffic 
• Intelligently identify legitimate traffic from potential DDoS threats
• Proactively neutralize threats before they can impact your network or service

With these capabilities in mind, let's dive into the differences between three types of DDoS attack prevention: on-premises, hybrid, and cloud-based DDoS solutions.

On-premises DDoS protection

On-premises DDoS protection is deployed directly within your network infrastructure. If you opt for this solution, you’ll need to install a physical or virtual application deployed either at the network perimeter or within an internal network. This type of solution is typically best suited for organizations that have specific regulatory or privacy requirements for data to be kept in-house.

This type of DDoS protection detects and mitigates attacks at the network edge and immediately responds to attacks. It employs advanced algorithms to analyze traffic in real-time. When suspicious activity is detected, on-premises solutions will initiate tailored mitigation strategies to protect your business, such as traffic filtering, rate limiting, or blocking.

Benefits

• Rapid response: On-premises solutions immediately respond to attacks, minimizing latency and downtime.
• Customized defence: You get direct control and visibility over your infrastructure, with the ability to customize your DDoS defence to your specific business or compliance requirements.
• On-premise security: Sensitive data does not leave your premises, offering enhanced privacy and security.

Drawbacks

• Lack of scalability: These solutions often lack the scalability required for large-scale attacks, which could leave your business vulnerable to significant threats.
• Bandwidth saturation: Volumetric DDoS attacks can overwhelm on-premises solutions to the point they cannot redirect traffic before link saturation occurs, which puts your service availability at risk.
• High costs: On-premises solutions typically require high upfront investments as well as ongoing maintenance costs.
• Resource intensive: You may need a dedicated in-house team of experts to manage and maintain on-premises DDoS protection infrastructure.

Hybrid DDoS protection

Hybrid solutions protect from DDoS attacks through two layers of protection: an on-premises appliance and a cloud-based protection service. The on-premises appliance monitors traffic and provides an initial layer of defence. When there is a large-scale attack beyond the capabilities of the on-premises solution, traffic is rerouted to a cloud-based protection service. The cloud service mitigates the excess traffic and prevents it from overwhelming your business’s infrastructure.

This dual defence can adapt to various attack vectors and intensities. It is best suited for organizations that need immediate on-premises defence along with the wider coverage of the cloud.

Benefits

• Unified protection: By combining the low-latency response of on-premises solutions and the scalability of cloud-based solutions, you get comprehensive defence against DDoS attacks.
• Adaptive defence: Hybrid solutions are able to handle various types of DDoS attacks by adjusting the defence based on the attack.
• Cost-effective over time: A hybrid protection model only leverages cloud resources when necessary, which can help reduce overall costs.

Drawbacks

• Complex to manage: Coordination is needed between on-premises and cloud-based components, so hybrid solutions may require a higher level of expertise and ongoing management.
• Higher upfront investment: While hybrid solutions can be cost-effective over time, they require a larger initial investment to cover both on-premises hardware and a cloud subscription.
• External dependency: If you rely on external providers for the cloud component of your hybrid DDoS protection, this may lead to data privacy or security concerns.

Cloud-based DDoS protection

Cloud DDoS defence is the preferred choice for many organizations because of its simplicity, scalability, and flexibility. This DDoS protection leverages cloud computing to handle large volumetric DDoS attacks. Traffic is rerouted through your service provider’s network, which identifies and filters DDoS attack traffic before it can reach your network.

There are two primary models for cloud-based DDoS services:

• Always-on: Traffic is continuously transported through your cloud provider’s network. Attacks are instantly mitigated.
• On-demand: Traffic is only diverted during an attack. Delays in mitigation may leave your business vulnerable to attacks.

Cloud-based DDoS protection is a popular choice because it is built for scalability, agility, and rapid deployment. It is well suited for a variety of business needs, such as:

• Business that have high bandwidth usage, dynamic scaling needs, and/or unpredictable network traffic volumes
• Businesses whose operations and revenue rely heavily on their online presence (e.g., e-commerce stores, online banking, and streaming services)
• Organizations that provide essential services, operate critical infrastructure, and/or manage sensitive information. Certain industries, including finance, healthcare, education, and government, are prime targets for DDoS attacks. For example, in 2023, the Government of Canada issued an alert about several DDoS campaigns targeting government and financial sectors.

Benefits

• Easy to scale: The cloud can handle sudden spikes in traffic, which is ideal for mitigating large-scale DDoS attacks and ensuring your services are uninterrupted.
• Cost-effective: Cloud protection does not require any significant upfront investments in costly infrastructure or ongoing maintenance fees.
• Flexible subscription model: Cloud DDoS protection is often delivered through a subscription-based model, so you can scale your defence and budget to match the changing needs of your business.
• Rapid deployment: DDoS attacks are quickly growing, so your business needs to be protected as soon as possible. With cloud DDoS mitigation, you can get your DDoS defence up and running quickly.
• Hands-off protection: Cloud protection is easy-to-manage and requires no in-house technical expertise to protect against DDoS, meaning you can spend less time on cybersecurity management and more time on your core business activities.

Drawbacks

• Provider dependency: The effectiveness of cloud-based protection largely depends on the reliability and security of your DDoS protection provider. When evaluating vendors, look for a vendor with robust protection measures and transparent communication.
• Cost structure: A monthly subscription model involves ongoing costs. However, the predictability of the expense can help your business budget effectively.

Which DDoS protection is right for your business?

A single DDoS attack can devastate any business, of any size, in any industry. DDoS attack defence, paired with comprehensive cybersecurity measures, can shield your organization from the wide-ranging consequences of a DDoS attack.

When selecting the best DDoS protection solution, assess your organization’s defence requirements and technical resources. For businesses seeking enterprise-grade security without added complexity, cloud-based DDoS protection can offer the right balance between robust security, cost efficiency, and seamless scalability.

A DDoS attack can strike your business at any time. Is your business prepared to defend itself? Hiboo SENTRY, a new advanced cloud-based DDoS protection solution from hiboo networks, stops attacks before they can impact your business. Powered by industry-leading technology, hiboo SENTRY provides:

• Always-on 24/7 monitoring so you can operate with confidence
• Flexible, tiered bandwidth protection that scales with your business
• Comprehensive reporting, real-time analytics, and custom insights through the hiboo SENTRY Portal (available with SENTRY Enhanced)

Ready to safeguard your business against DDoS disruptions? Connect with a local hiboo networks expert to assess your current risk posture and deploy the right defence before a cyberattack happens.