On December 19, 2024, NETSCOUT SYSTEMS, INC, a leading provider of performance management, cybersecurity, and DDoS attack protection solutions, announced updates to its industry-leading Arbor Edge Defense (AED) and Arbor Enterprise Manager (AEM) products as part of its Adaptive DDoS Protection Solution. These updates are designed to combat AI-enabled DDoS threats and protect critical IT infrastructure. NETSCOUT’s DDoS Threat Intelligence Report revealed a rise in application-layer and volumetric attacks by over 43% and 30%, respectively. DDoS-for-hire services have also grown in number and sophistication, making attacks easier to launch. The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) recently issued a cybersecurity advisory emphasizing the need for better controls to prevent and detect malicious activity, reinforcing the necessity for protective solutions to mitigate business risks.
Chris Rodriguez, Research Director, Security & Trust at IDC, stated that IT environment complexity is often the leading challenge in an organization’s mitigation efforts, particularly as attackers continuously modify their attack vectors using AI to bypass defenses. He highlighted that organizations must invest in proactive, adaptive measures like those offered by NETSCOUT’s Adaptive DDoS Protection solution. He added that relying on reactive or static mitigation lacking sophisticated intelligence increases risks and can lead to costly damage to business productivity and reputation.
NETSCOUT incorporates artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technology in its ATLAS Threat Intelligence Feed and in the advanced features of its adaptive DDoS protection. The NETSCOUT ATLAS global threat intelligence system monitors more than 550 Tbps of Internet traffic in real-time across over 500 ISPs and 2,000-plus enterprise sites from over 100 countries. The AI/ML algorithms operate within the ATLAS cloud infrastructure, forming part of a product-independent data collection and analysis pipeline that can be updated anytime without requiring product software or customer site updates.
Also Read: NetSPI Unveils Three-Tier External Attack Surface Management Solutions
AI/ML technology is also leveraged in the latest AED and AEM updates to establish a repeatable closed-loop DDoS attack analysis and mitigation process. This process automatically identifies evolving attack vectors and provides tailored recommendations for mitigating those attacks, with the option to automatically apply those recommendations. NETSCOUT’s AI/ML-powered ATLAS Threat Intelligence and Adaptive DDoS Protection solution, utilizing AED and AEM, automates DDoS attack detection and protection workflows, reducing downtime costs and providing enhanced protection for business-critical services, whether on-premises or in the public cloud.
Scott Iekel-Johnson, AVP of DDoS and Threat Intelligence at NETSCOUT, emphasized that Adaptive DDoS Protection offers a sophisticated feature set designed to combat the growing threats to critical IT infrastructure, which have increased by 55% over the past four years. He noted that NETSCOUT is continually enhancing its solution to help organizations protect assets across all environments, including on-premises, in private data centers, or in the public cloud through a single solution.
The new enhancements also include holistic management and visibility into blocking non-DDoS threats, a new appliance that supports up to 200 Gbps of DDoS attack mitigation capacity and high-performance decryption, and extended support for Microsoft Azure public cloud environments in Virtual AED, alongside AWS Cloud, for unified hybrid-cloud DDoS attack protection.