DDoS protection strategies in HLD - Cheat Sheet & Quick Revision

Recall & Review

beginner

What is a DDoS attack?

A Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is when many computers send a huge amount of traffic to a target system to overwhelm it and make it unavailable to real users.

beginner

Name one common strategy to protect against DDoS attacks.

Using a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to absorb and distribute traffic, reducing the load on the main server.

intermediate

How does rate limiting help in DDoS protection?

Rate limiting controls how many requests a user or IP can make in a time period, preventing attackers from flooding the system with too many requests.

intermediate

What role does a Web Application Firewall (WAF) play in DDoS protection?

A WAF filters and blocks malicious traffic before it reaches the server, helping to stop harmful requests that could be part of a DDoS attack.

intermediate

Why is traffic monitoring important in DDoS defense?

Traffic monitoring helps detect unusual spikes or patterns early, so defenses can activate quickly to block or mitigate attacks.

Which of the following is NOT a typical DDoS protection method?

A Rate limiting

B Deploying a WAF

C Using a CDN

D Increasing server CPU speed

Increasing server CPU speed alone does not protect against DDoS attacks, which overwhelm network or application resources.

What does a CDN do to help against DDoS attacks?

A Distributes traffic across many servers

B Encrypts data

C Limits user login attempts

D Blocks all traffic

A CDN spreads incoming traffic across many servers to reduce the load on any single server.

Rate limiting is best described as:

A Controlling the number of requests per user/IP

B Blocking all traffic

C Allowing unlimited requests

D Encrypting user data

Rate limiting controls how many requests a user or IP can make in a set time to prevent flooding.

Which tool filters malicious web traffic to protect applications?

A Database

B Load balancer

C Web Application Firewall (WAF)

D Cache

A WAF filters and blocks harmful web traffic before it reaches the application.

Why is early traffic monitoring important in DDoS defense?

A To increase server speed

B To detect attacks quickly and respond

C To block all users

D To reduce bandwidth

Early detection through monitoring allows quick response to stop or reduce attack impact.

Explain the main strategies used to protect a system from DDoS attacks.

Think about how to reduce load, block bad traffic, and spot attacks early.

Describe how rate limiting and WAF complement each other in DDoS protection.

One limits quantity, the other filters quality of requests.