Strategic Defense Planning

DDoS protection is increasingly a compliance requirement across industries.

PCI-DSS Requirements

Organizations handling credit card data must comply:

Relevant Requirements:

• Requirement 6.6: Protect public-facing web applications
• Requirement 11.4: Monitor all traffic with intrusion-detection/prevention
• Requirement 12.10: Implement incident response plans

What This Means:

• Application-layer protection (WAF capabilities) often required
• Continuous monitoring and logging
• Documented incident response for DDoS attacks
• Annual compliance audits review DDoS preparedness

ISO 27001 Information Security

Relevant Controls:

• A.17.1: Information security continuity in business continuity management
• A.17.2: Redundancies for availability requirements

DDoS Protection Alignment:

• Risk assessment must identify DDoS threats
• Protection controls documented and tested
• Regular effectiveness reviews required

Data Sovereignty and Privacy

Geographic Requirements:

Regulations require data remain within jurisdictions:

• GDPR (Europe): EU citizen personal data
• Data Localization Laws: Russia, China, India, Vietnam
• Industry-Specific: Financial services country-specific rules

Key Considerations:

• Where are scrubbing centers located?
• Does traffic route through specific countries during mitigation?
• Can you specify geographic routing policies?
• What's in the Data Processing Agreement (DPA)?

Industry-Specific Mandates

Financial Services:

• FFIEC Guidelines (US), MAS TRM (Singapore), EBA Guidelines (EU)
• Require robust DDoS defenses

Healthcare:

• HIPAA availability requirements

Government/Critical Infrastructure:

• NIST Cybersecurity Framework
• CISA Guidelines
• National standards for critical infrastructure

Telecommunications/ISPs:

• Service availability regulatory requirements
• Customer SLA legal obligations

What to Document

• Risk assessment with DDoS threat identified
• Protection architecture diagrams
• Detection, escalation, mitigation procedures
• Incident response playbook
• Regular testing results
• Vendor assessments (certifications, audits, SLAs)

Key Takeaway: Compliance requirements often eliminate certain protection options while favoring others. Factor regulatory needs into selection from the beginning.

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